Would never work. They are a continent apart, the atmospheric conditions are completely different.

Yeah RIGHT!
A dead animal is cheaper than an injured animal. Have you not considered that these guys are running a business, not an animal welfare program?

The three surfaces are nothing alike right now so it wouldn't matter.

[QUOTE=gm10]If this happens, good luck explaining a rise of +30% in fatalities. Hope it will have been worth it for you.[/QUOTE]


gm10 shove it "you know where" if you're implying that I want breakdowns. That is a low life comment and if the shoe fits then....... :ThmbDown:

Does John Shirreffs want Zenyatta to break down?

Do any of the others want their horses to break down?

What a friggin jerk you are! :ThmbDown:

Wouldn't that cannabalize races on the other two surfaces? Where would all the additional horses of reasonable quality come from?

The three days would have to be surface rather than gender-oriented, and be run on separate weekends far enough apart to allow some subset of those horses to run on more than one surface.

True, but I think the synthetics are more alike than synthetic is to dirt (though perhaps in some cases it's close).

Maybe it's just me, but if I owned some high level 2YOs and 3YOs, some older stakes horses, a turf horse I thought could handle synthetics, a horse that was doing really well on synthetic, a horse that hated synthetic, etc... my decision about where to keep them might be influenced by the surfaces at the various tracks on the circuit.

CA has so many major stakes, it's going to be kind of difficult to plan a long term campaign when some are run on synthetic and some on dirt.

Kentucky has a similar issue with Keeneland, but I think it's more relevant to places like CA and NY where there are sometime a series of races that horses point to.

I like the idea of going back to dirt, but I like consistency on a circuit also.

Hollywood is more like dirt than any other synthetic surface. Right now Pro Ride is more like turf than any other synthetic surface. Del Mar has changed drastically from 2007 to 2009 so who knows what thats like.

Without a Breeders Cup on synthetic and Santa Anita going back to dirt all the major 3yo campaigns and other important races on dirt are going to attract the major contenders. With Santa Anita going to dirt it is a major blow to synthetic advocates and they know it. That's the reason for the earlier post by the jerk who said "he hopes I'm happy to see more horses break down".

Santa Anita has a bigger impact on the national scene and the triple crown trail than do Del Mar or Hollywood.

[QUOTE=andymays]WTF?
Suddenly I'm a low life? You are the guy who wants to bring back a surface that kills more animals. Hind leg injuries aren't life threatening you know. But if you can live with this, that is your right, of course.

I think that the 'synthetic advocates' @ SA should hold out for one more Triple Crown Season. The plastic horses did well @ CD last year, and I reckon they will do well again this year.

[QUOTE=gm10]
WTF is right. Up yours! If you want to stick to the line that I want more horses to get killed then go ahead. Every time you post this junk though make sure you throw in John Shirreffs name too. That makes it a little harder for you doens't it?

I understand and agree.

I think it's a step in the right direction because I prefer dirt racing. But I was hoping they'd all switch back because I also like consistency and I can see some complications for planning because of this.

It's a major war behind the scenes out here right now. There is some talk of Horsemen boycotting Del Mar if they don't go back.

[QUOTE=andymays]??
Why would it? Because I prefer Zenyatta to RA?
I would love to see him answer this very question.

Andy, according to an article you posted yourself, dirt racing kills more than synthetic racing. Do you feel good about wanting a new dirt surface @ SA. If you do, you do. I don't, and I don't like you if you do. That doesn't make me a low life.

I agree about HOL. But it does appear to be safe, though. I didn't follow the last meeting much, but I don't recall any major number of breakdowns.

Ding!!!!