Races taken off turf? Horses should not be allowed to scratch
 

If you are going to enter a horse in a turf race there should be a clause that the horse must compete if its switched to dirt. Its bad enough field size has shrunk in recent years but turf scratching has gotten out of control.

Just. Stop.

LAST EXIT BEFORE TROLL

Something is very wrong with the logic of your argument.
 

If a horse has preference for running well on turf and for some reason the turf race which it is entered is switched from the turf course to the main track, the trainer/owner have a legitimate right to scratched the horse because it would be performing on a surface which it doesn’t perform well; and more importantly the bettors would be wagering on a horse whose performance might be compromised by the surface change and that would be unfair to the bettors.

The trainers are entitled to scratch their grass horses when the race moves off the turf...but the racetrack should also be entitled to drastically reduce the size of the race-purse...when the race is scratched down to a ridiculous number of starters. When a field of twelve horses is downsized to four...then a comparative reduction of the purse should also come into effect...IMO.

You may be able to make a horse start in a race, but you can't make it compete. :rolleyes:

Enough already!:puke:

The horses should be allowed to scratch but how is it unfair to the bettors?

Zippy are you related to SRU?

Enough already? Its my opinion. But allowing horses to race with a zig zagged rail at KD is safe right? Any back to my opinion. Course services all the time and you dont see the excessive scratches. There are not many t-breds
in the country that *strickly* run on grass. These are very versitile animals. When they write these races they can see weather patters a
week in advance. Dont write so many turf races for that day.

Do you know what a condition book is? Would The Farmer's Almanac be a good source for the weather outlook?

At many tracks, if a carded turf race is taken off the turf, any horse that runs receives one of those "stars."

I would not only do that but carry it one step further: If the track condition for a carded dirt race is muddy or sloppy, any horse that runs receives one of those "stars" as well.

Blame the racing secretary for the scratches, not the trainers.
NYRA never looks at the weather channel??

6 of 9 today and 6 of 10 tomorrow carded for the turf.
What could go wrong? :rolleyes:

NY, fall, hurricane on the map for over a week now.....surprise! more garbage racing, Toga Part Deux. Some of the toga race were downright :puke: 5 horse field, 3 of them 30-40 lengths behind......truly a waste of time.

I know the weather can't be changed, but it can't be ignored, either. We are not in 60% turf racing climates around here this time of year.

I feel your pain Zippy. I like the turf races the best and it sucks to pour over pps the night before only to see it go poof. But scratches have always been part of the package. Seabiscuit, for example, was routinely scratched on any type of wet surface.

Exactly Tom! It’s been a very frustrating summer of scratches up here in the
northeast. Heavy rain was predicted weeks before races were written at Toga but of course the races came and went with numerous scratches.