An amazing yet disgusting stat

[cees with dees]

Of the 8 premier racetracks in the U.S., five of them are polytrack.
And with the Breeders Cup scheduled to be run at Santa Anita, it is the equivalent of the Super Bowl being played on Astro Turf.
It is the players, and only the players that can put a stop to these non-racing minds that are infiltrating the greatest sport in the world.
STOP BETTING POLYTRACK RACES!!!!!!!!!!!! It's the only way to put an end to this nonsense.
As polytrack is single handedly killing this game, we only participate by wagering on races held on this crap.
The only positive to come of this is the rebirth of harness racing which will no doubt, become a big force again if polytrack continues to ruin our game.
If someone told me two years ago that Keeneland, a premier track in the world, would be running on an artificial surface with animated ping pong balls on the simulcast screen interfering with the live race, I'd have laughed intheir faces but it's become a scary reality.
We as bettors control this and a stop of this needs to happen now and the best way is to boycott this years Breeders Cup.
This sport is dead if Poly continues.
Ben

[Pace Cap'n]

Three horses were euthanized on Tuesday morning at Hollywood Park as a result of injuries sustained either galloping or during workouts. Wise Mandate, trained by Mel Stute, broke down shortly after completing a six-furlong drill in 1:13.80. According to Stute's son, Gary, Wise Mandate broke his sesamoids.

www.drf.com/news/article/90945.html

[boomman]

Originally Posted by cees with dees

Of the 8 premier racetracks in the U.S., five of them are polytrack.
And with the Breeders Cup scheduled to be run at Santa Anita, it is the equivalent of the Super Bowl being played on Astro Turf.
It is the players, and only the players that can put a stop to these non-racing minds that are infiltrating the greatest sport in the world.
STOP BETTING POLYTRACK RACES!!!!!!!!!!!! It's the only way to put an end to this nonsense.
As polytrack is single handedly killing this game, we only participate by wagering on races held on this crap.
The only positive to come of this is the rebirth of harness racing which will no doubt, become a big force again if polytrack continues to ruin our game.
If someone told me two years ago that Keeneland, a premier track in the world, would be running on an artificial surface with animated ping pong balls on the simulcast screen interfering with the live race, I'd have laughed intheir faces but it's become a scary reality.
We as bettors control this and a stop of this needs to happen now and the best way is to boycott this years Breeders Cup.
This sport is dead if Poly continues.
Ben

Ben: Even though I am not a big proponent of synthetic surfaces and consider myself to be a traditionalist like you are, let me share some altering views on this subject. First of all, I disagree with you that polytrack itself is killing the game. There are 2 elements that I think are way above poly on the "killing our game" scale and they involve cheating via illegal drugs and wagering security. First, the drug problem in our sport. IMHO the reason that synthetic surfaces were even needed in the first place was because the breed has been so shot full of illegal substances as a whole that they are many times more likely to break down on any kind of surface today. The trainers (and there are many, you know who they are, we've mentioned them specifically on many other threads) that get multiple positives for banned substances should be banned themselves for life from our game. If the public doesn't trust the integrity and drug testing in our game, it will turn into the juice fiasco of Major League Baseball and people will eventually stay away. Secondly, with the exception of companies like Premier Turf Club that installed the RCI security wagering software (something very few racing jurisdictions install due to cost) the recent Fairgrounds fiasco of past posting by a bettor is far more prevalent than people think. The only reason the guys got caught at The Breeders Cup and then got a ridiculous slap on the wrist from the courts was because they were so stupid they got themselves caught by being greedy. The tote company people involved continually insisted that they had done nothing wrong until the facts finally came out. Now the synthetics: I took a close look at these surfaces, and IMHO I feel that the Cushion Track and The Tapeta surface (invented by the well respected Michael Dickinson) closely play to the dirt surfaces they replaced and therefore, could have a future. The polytrack surface is another matter entirely, and should not be "clumped together" (pardon the pun) with Cushion or Tapeta because IMO it is far inferior to those surfaces. The joke that was Del Mar (especially at the beginning of the meet) we all agree was horrible, and even though I support anything that will ultimately make racing safer, the verdict on polytrack even greatly preventing injuries is still out, as several trainers have reported an increase in back end injuries on horses running on Poly.

[David-LV]

Originally Posted by cees with dees

Of the 8 premier racetracks in the U.S., five of them are polytrack.
And with the Breeders Cup scheduled to be run at Santa Anita, it is the equivalent of the Super Bowl being played on Astro Turf.
It is the players, and only the players that can put a stop to these non-racing minds that are infiltrating the greatest sport in the world.
STOP BETTING POLYTRACK RACES!!!!!!!!!!!! It's the only way to put an end to this nonsense.
As polytrack is single handedly killing this game, we only participate by wagering on races held on this crap.
The only positive to come of this is the rebirth of harness racing which will no doubt, become a big force again if polytrack continues to ruin our game.
If someone told me two years ago that Keeneland, a premier track in the world, would be running on an artificial surface with animated ping pong balls on the simulcast screen interfering with the live race, I'd have laughed intheir faces but it's become a scary reality.
We as bettors control this and a stop of this needs to happen now and the best way is to boycott this years Breeders Cup.
This sport is dead if Poly continues.
Ben

Ben,

I agree with you 1000%.

These synthetic surfaces are the death nell for the sport of racing.

The stupidity of jumping into anything without years of testing is comical, just as are the people that were sold this bill of goods by the flim flam salemen that are pushing this synthetic garbage.

It is time for the players to take action and to start boycotting the tracks where this garbage is installed.

_________
David

[PaceAdvantage]

Not that it means anything, but a horse just broke down at GG....not a good week for California synths....

[Bobzilla]

I've been saying it all along, if these tracks are safer they are only marginally safer at best. With that quite obviously being the case, was it really worth it to turn North American Racing upside down. Then again this entire movement has more to do with the internationalization of the sport, and the economies that hope to be gained from that, rather than equine safety.

The Bloodhorse magazine dedicated this week's edition to Synthetics. I found it informative, and get this, balanced believe it or not. People in the industry from ownwers such as Maggie Moss, Players such as Ernie Dahlman, and Trainers such as Nick Zito, Dale Romans and Joh Shirrefs felt enough at ease to convey their concerns about the trend. That part I was really surprised over considering the witch hunt within the industry to stifle any objections to synthetics and to immediately short circuit any true and fair debate. And then again there was the usual self-righteous snippiness from Mr. Dickinson himself. I urge all interested, regardless of your position, to read all the articles in this week's Bloodhorse.

[Marshall Bennett]

Keeneland and Turfway Park were ruined by this synthetic crap . Hope New York keeps its distance ... about the only tracks I follow anymore !!!

[Bobzilla]

I beleive Mr. Dickinson's recent decision to concentrate his focus entirely on his Tapeta Footings business is so he can free up more time to aggresively lobby whoever ends up with New York to "get with the program" and replace The Big Sandy's (Belmont) existing surface with one he has publically described as "more suitable and appropriate for thoroughbred racing". Belmont would be a huge project, one that Martin Collins' Polytrack, Cushion track, and Dickinson would all covet I suspect.

[jballscalls]

Originally Posted by PaceAdvantage

Not that it means anything, but a horse just broke down at GG....not a good week for California synths....

I know at GGF, i was down there last week and EVERYONE i talked to, from horseman to bettors to the announcer have been raving about the surface. field sizes are up, everyone is happy there.

[bigmack]

If you read that entire Bloodhorse segment you find about 85% of those in the industry adopting a "it's too early to tell, but I'm optimistic" posture. What's more comical; those that rushed to spread it forth or those that are rushing to declare it the death of racing?

Is part of the "death nell" prognostication bigger fields?

[Bristol]

The single biggest thing killing racing is, and always has been, the use of legal and illegal drugs. Racing was great in the 1960's when none of that crap was legal. Now the vets and drug companies are making money and the horses are a bunch of prima donna drug-addled bleeders.
Nowadays there's way too much big business involved....racing needs to go back to being a pure sport, clean from drug interference. That would be a first step.

[Dave Schwartz]

I think when people say that Poly is killing racing, they are referring to the fact that the speed numbers often make no sense.

While the tracks like to see "high prices," when those higher prices are the result of unpredictable races the core racing fans will lose interest. What will be left are the $2 players that only play weekends.

My experience has been that most tracks are still predictable, though not as much as before. The problem is Santa Anita - the numbers just make no sense.

BTW, the lack of predictablity at the other tracks could very much be caused by the "artificial" change in running style requirements.


Dave Schwartz

[Robert Fischer]

The worst thing about synthetics = how much different a "Classic" distance race is on the different synthetic tracks.


The more distance added , the more different the demands on the horses are. Pedigree and Stamina and Running Style have to be suited to the particular synthetic surface at a distance.
I hope to make a lot of money on the 2008 Breeders Cup, in part because of the surface.

However, synthetic surfaces have no place at major tracks. It is inferior quality and aesthetics.

[bigmack]

In terms of times, DMR must have added marshmellows to their blend of poly.

[Tom]

Death knell for racing?
How so?
Attendence?
Handle?

Because if those two are not being hurt, the game is not being hurt.

How do we know the breakdowns are caused by dirt or poly? How about fragile horses?