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Originally Posted by OTM Al
They opened too early. Many horses down in Tampa are still in the process of going north and some haven't even left yet. Others will move over from Maryland eventually, but not til after Pimlico concludes. That is some of it, but simply put, I've never bothered with Delaware because the fields are too unreliable. Too many times a nine horse field has scratched down to 4 there for me to bother. I've always felt that it would be the first track where management and politicians suddenly decide that the horses take too much away from the slots and shut down racing. It looks very nice there too, so it would be a shame.
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The opening is not the issue and Tampa horses have not in the past shipped into Delaware. The issues are as follows:
1. Steroids ban in place at Delaware whereas there is no ban in Florida or Maryland;
2. The Gulfstream horses that would normally make the trek north to Delaware are by passing Delaware on their way to Monmouth;
3. The condition book needs retooling. Izzy has to be more creative by writing races that are different from other tracks..... where is the 4 life condition..... what about NW2Y for $5,000..... what about NW1Y for $10,000;
4. For too long Delaware has been held hostage by a small number of trainers and the condition book and race office caters to that group;
5. Telling outfits that they can not have additional stalls because the empty ones are resereved for horses that are coming;
