OFF THE TURF

[JimL]

I really enjoy turf racing however with all the monsoon weather in the east and midwest I wonder why racing secretaries would not slow down on carding them. Ellis Park had an off the turf race yesterday with 2 horses running! The favorite lost! Dont mean for this to be a frivolous post: do racing rules state they must be carded? JimL

[BillW]

Jim,

Good question.

Typically I think the condition book is published weeks ahead of time, I would assume based on the perceived demand of the available trainers. But does the Racing Secy. have any leeway in altering what is published because of the weather? Do they usually build in non-turf contingencies into the condx book?

Deleware is the most glaring example of this problem this year. Up until about 2 weeks ago, they hadn't run a turf race this meet and possibly still haven't.

Bill