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Its been years since I saw Joe Takach's DVD on horse body language. I seem to remember he addressed this briefly (shall I say he "poo poo'd it?). From my purely anecdotal evidence, I see it not necessarily as a problem but potentially a symptom of a problem. If the horse has shown signs of skittishness, difficult to saddle, fighting the groom in the walking ring, or kidney sweat, the dump can be further evidence the horse is nervous. If it happens when the horse is just walking in the saddling area, it probably means nothing. And somebody mentioned earlier, if its not solid, definitely not a good sign.
The post above mine is interesting, although toward the end it states "exceeding ly few thoroughbreds get a proper pre race warmup". That may explain why we don't see that many horses dumping right before the race. I wouldn't say its rare but certainly doesn't happen every race. I had felt that the closer toward the race it occurred, the more likely it was from nervousness.
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