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Originally Posted by Bobzilla
Of particular interest to me while reading Mr. Williams's response to Andy was the second to last sentence. It seemed to me that Mr. Williams wanted to take the opportunity to remind Andy as to why these AWSs were supposedly installed in the first place and appeal to Andy's conscience. The fact is we can all be thankful, for reasons that are self-evident, that there were no catastrophic injuries sustained by any horse competing over the course of the three week meet at Keeneland. Along those same lines many of us were equally thankful last summer when there were no catastrophic breakdowns on the Saratoga main track during the course of its six week meet, a fact that seemed to draw very little attention at the time. Saratoga, of course, is a traditional dirt surface.
Personally, I'll handicap a race on any surface as long as I think I might be able to find value. My own concerns about the proliferation of synthetic surfaces has nothing to do with their complexities as much as it has to do with preserving our dirt track heritage. I do think it's unfortunate that when those with concerns, such as Andy, take the time to communicate these concerns with industry officials that they can expect what amounts to a condescending admonition. Maybe I was reading too much between the lines but that's how it came across to me. This discussion can never seem to get anywhere when one side continues to piously perch themselves on a higher moral plane while devaluing the other side as nothing more than a collection of degenerate goons insensitive to the well-being of the horse and lacking the mental capacity and initiative required to learn something new.
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I think your instincts are dead on when reading into Mr. Williams comments. When Del Mar installed their synthetic surface and anyone spoke out against it they were labeled "Horse Haters" and told that they didn't care if children were traumatized if they saw a breakdown at the Races on a dirt surface. Bob Baffert was villified to no end when he spoke out against synthetic surfaces and he was almost run out of town.
The trend in our society seems to be that it's not enough to disagree you have to destroy the people you disagree with through personal attacks and inuendo. That's part of the reason I am so against synthetic surfaces for racing (not training). There are still injuries and breakdowns on sythetic surfaces (maybe a little less), but the Horseplayer is not served well by these surfaces. When faced with the fact that synthetic surfaces were not what we were sold in the infomercial they just won't concede an inch in the debate. In my opinion they produce a more inconsistent past performance because they can change drastically from day to day and hour to hour. Heck they even change when a cloud passes over and the temperature changes 7 degrees!
That brings me back to Del Mar and last year they decided to water after the second race. In the third race after they watered more horses went wire to wire than in the other races especially the first race. Joe Harper was interviewed and said they keep a thermometer in the surface and constantly monitor the temperature. Oh that makes me feel confident in the surface!
Anyway I have to give Mr. Williams credit for answering and he was very polite and probably a very nice man. My criticism of his surface had to piss him off so hats off to him for responding.
