When is the ban on Lasix actually going to start? See entries for Golden Gates this week with Lasix allowed.

I beleive the lasix is to be reduced not banned except for horses born in 2018. ??

Seems that would be a good way to do it. But was not what Belinda Stronach inferred in her statement? Also, then the Breeders' Cup would not be affected.

the new whip rules will eventually lead to handicappers having a shit fit

https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-rac...acing-surfaces
Arlington installs Polytrack after an unprecedented number of fatal breakdowns. I remember similar with keenlands hard surface and inside speed bias at the same time.

You might remember it, but nothing in your link makes any reference to it.

22 horses died on the Arlington dirt in 2006. A 2007 Chicago Tribune article, easily found on google, indicates that the Polytrack was installed because of that.

Didn't Keeneland own or have a substantial investment in Polytrack?

Actually, Michael Dickinson ended up suing Keeneland after failing to collect from the manufacturers of Polytrack (Martin Collins SF) on a copyright claim because, in fact, Keeneland owned Martin Collins SF.

https://www.paulickreport.com/news/r...ailure-to-pay/

I remember that the synthetic tracks were hailed as the future of the sport by some only to produce higher rate of soft tissue injuries. Made some money when horses that were working on Hollywoods Cushion track would come to Santa Anita. A lot of winners with that angle, but then again they were not on to the Milk shake yet.

At the time I do remember the inside speed bias and fast times at Keenland, cant say they had a larger number of fatal breakdowns. I to thought Synthetics were going to take over. then both Hollywood and Santa Anita tracks lost days from rain and bad drainage. Kickback was an issue too. Everybody was trying to get money back when they went back to dirt. Santa anita base got clogged with silt and wouldn't drain, I wonder if that base is still under the track. Who would of ever thought that we would shut down the race track because of rain in California.

I have a particular take on soft tissue injuries, as a litigation lawyer.

In human accidents, soft tissue injuries are where a vast number of fraudulent claims are made. You can't prove anything. If the victim tells a doctor he or she hurts there, and the doctor puts a brace on, boom, you have a soft tissue injury and a $25,000 or more claim.

There were a lot of trainers who hated synthetic tracks, for their own reasons. And, honestly-- and I am going to be very nasty to them-- they really didn't care that much about the fatality rate on dirt, at least in the sense that they would prefer a world where they understand the surface and speed figures work and their horses are bred to run on the surface, to a world where they are dealing with something new and unpredictable, even if that new and unpredictable surface is far safer.

There's no reason we should particularly credit the honesty of horsemen claiming soft tissue injuries. At any rate, even if you did, I'd rather have a racetrack full of treatable soft tissue injuries than a ton of fatal breakdowns. It's a no brainer.

For real? Trainers are claiming the horses are bowing tendons and blowing suspensories and they be sporting standing wraps around the barn as an act of deception to do away with synthetics? LOL

yes, how awful to make horse trainers know and learn how to manage EIPH in racehorses, like the rest of the world is able to do.

That's all I was referring to.

I also remember the moaning and gnashing of teeth by opinion-makers, including Andy Beyer, that the elimination of biases would result in more predictability, lower win payoffs, and a move downwards towards harness racing levels of interest.

For real. Did any of those trainers release the vet records so that these claims could be scientifically documented?

We KNOW about fatalities because tracks log them. Trainers aren't trustworthy.