crunk_o Twitter thread about the Santa Anita breakdown problem....

[sharkie187]

Originally Posted by highnote

What is the attraction to Santa Anita? Short fields. Breakdowns. etc.

Short fields have been a problem for as long as I can remember.

There is so much great racing in Europe and HK that is available to bet on via many ADWs that there is no reason to bet on races with races with only 5 or 6 runners.

I wrote this on twitter on 3/1...
@BH_JBalan if people complain about field sizes at SA, tell them this...there was a total of 31 runners for a 7 race card at Doncaster UK. 2 races had 3 runners and the last race only has 2...oh and there were NO scratches!

The following day or so Fakenham had 27 runners over a 6 race card.

Small fields are in the UK too

[Tom]

Interview with TIm Ritvo on TVG this morning.
Training track open only for galloping and breezing for now. Will evaluate and maybe allow real works in a few days. Trainers will have to apply for permission to work. More vets to be hired and be on hand during training, including monitoring horses entering and leaving the track in the morning.

San Felipe is lost this year, BIg Cap probably to be run on SA Derby day.
Other stakes will be re-scheduled.

Target to get back to racing is 3/.22, but subject to ongoing daily evaluations.

Idea floated to put horses's vet records on-line and available to anyone to look at. This gets a

[ReplayRandall]

Here's the real jam that Santa Anita is now in......How can any stable with healthy, ready to run horses, be confident that there won't be another abrupt stoppage at any moment once the track reopens?.....If I'm that trainer with a stable of healthy horses, and my owners want to be assured of winning as much purse money as possible, I'm seriously considering going elsewhere for the time being, until this situation has been totally resolved.

[Tom]

Where else would you go?
Nothing in Calif. on dirt. You would have to ship east and ope you could get stalls. Expensive to move your operation, especially when your home is Calif.
I suspect the shut down is time for all the horses' systems to "clear out" and not so much a track fixing thing.

[ReplayRandall]

I don't know how any trainer keeps a horse at "peak" without shipping to Oaklawn immediately.....

Santa Anita is in dire straits.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by ReplayRandall

Here's the real jam that Santa Anita is now in......How can any stable with healthy, ready to run horses, be confident that there won't be another abrupt stoppage at any moment once the track reopens?.....If I'm that trainer with a stable of healthy horses, and my owners want to be assured of winning as much purse money as possible, I'm seriously considering going elsewhere for the time being, until this situation has been totally resolved.

Honestly, they should just close the track for at least the season. There's a horse shortage anyway. They aren't going to be able to fill fields.

And they should take the time to seriously consider how they want to go forward. Do they want to reinstall a Polytrack? Do they want to close down and redevelop the track? Etc.

[Lemon Drop Husker]

This thread has gone beyond crazy.

Santa Anita is one of the premier tracks in the entire country. They have had rains this winter of the likes they haven't seen in an extremely long time.

We should all recognize the fact they are taking the time to earnestly put forward the real effort to fix the problem with the track.

Racing isn't leaving SA anytime soon.

There will be racing again at Santa Anita. And the beautiful animals will be running again soon enough, and doing what they do best.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by Lemon Drop Husker

This thread has gone beyond crazy.

Santa Anita is one of the premier tracks in the entire country. They have had rains this winter of the likes they haven't seen in an extremely long time.

We should all recognize the fact they are taking the time to earnestly put forward the real effort to fix the problem with the track.

Racing isn't leaving SA anytime soon.

There will be racing again at Santa Anita. And the beautiful animals will be running again soon enough, and doing what they do best.

Live racing at Santa Anita was on life support before the deaths. Lots of 4 and 5 horse fields due to the shortage.

[Lemon Drop Husker]

Originally Posted by dilanesp

Live racing at Santa Anita was on life support before the deaths. Lots of 4 and 5 horse fields due to the shortage.

Life support?

Good grief. Quit with the drama.

Yes, Santa has been crap this winter with small fields and not all that good racing. It is a single year. With extremely crappy weather.

Can't wait to get to my seat for this year's Breeder's Cup at the Great Race Place.

[ReplayRandall]

Originally Posted by Lemon Drop Husker

This thread has gone beyond crazy.

Originally Posted by Lemon Drop Husker

Can't wait to get to my seat for this year's Breeder's Cup at the Great Race Place.

Santa Anita may not have the BC this year.....Inquiries have already been made and serious options are on the table. Santa Anita racing is a shell of it's former self, more so than any premier track anywhere.....They've been in a death spiral for years, and Ritvo was sent there as a last ditch effort to pull it up out of it's nosedive.

Ritvo has failed and must do what is best for his employer, The Stronach Group, and unfortunately might cease operations and put the land up for sale.

I hope I'm wrong, as I never thought they would close Hollywood Park either, but it would take a miracle at this point to save it from it's own demise.

[Lemon Drop Husker]

Originally Posted by ReplayRandall

Santa Anita may not have the BC this year.....Inquiries have already been made and serious options are on the table. Santa Anita racing is a shell of it's former self, more so than any premier track anywhere.....They've been in a death spiral for years, and Ritvo was sent there as a last ditch effort to pull it up out of it's nosedive.

Ritvo has failed and must do what is best for his employer, The Stronach Group, and unfortunately might cease operations and put the land up for sale.

I hope I'm wrong, as I never thought they would close Hollywood Park either, but it would take a miracle at this point to save it from it's own demise.

Is this what you heard on the Q network?

[ReplayRandall]

Originally Posted by Lemon Drop Husker

Is this what you heard on the Q network?

....No, not yet.

[Jeff P]

A Google search for Santa Anita now turns up a handful of articles on the situation by The Associated Press.

I'd like to point out that I didn't discover that the AP had picked up the story on my own. Credit goes to Andy Asaro who has been emailing links to articles about the situation to members of of his A-List. (That's how I learned the AP had picked up the story.)

First article from about an hr ago --

By BETH HARRIS | 03-09-2019
Santa Anita imposing new safety, welfare rules for horses:
https://www.apnews.com/99fa193eafb846028f54d8e920224f22

Tim Ritvo, chief operating officer of The Stronach Group, said the new safety and welfare measures will take effect when racing resumes in the coming weeks.

“What they’re trying to do is the right thing,” said Jim Cassidy, president of the California Thoroughbred Trainers. “Just make sure everybody is accountable for their actions.”

The new rules announced by Santa Anita’s owner TSG include requiring trainers to apply to hold timed workouts for their horses at least 24 hours in advance. Officials believe that will give track veterinarians time to identify potential at-risk horses through their past performances, workout date and physical inspection.

Cassidy lost a filly from his 40-horse stable after she was fatally injured on the turf course during the meet that began on Dec. 26. He said she broke her hind leg around a turn.

“I’m sure she took a bad step,” he said. “She never really had injuries at all.”

TSG says it has hired extra vets to observe all horses entering and exiting the dirt and turf course during morning training hours.

The morning training schedule will change, too.

The first 15 minutes of training after the dirt track opens, and each time its surface is renovated, will be reserved for horses completing official timed workouts. Officials say it will reduce the number of horses on the track at the same time and create a safer environment.

TSG plans to hire an accredited vet as the new director of equine welfare. That person will lead a rapid response team for injuries and conduct transparent investigations into the injury while communicating the findings to the racing and general public.

Santa Anita will require veterinary records of a horse to follow that animal through any ownership or trainer change. A similar rule is in effect at Florida’s Gulfstream Park, which is also owned by TSG.

“This has worked very well at Gulfstream Park,” Ritvo said. “There was some pushback from the trainers at first, but this is the best thing for the horse.”

Cassidy sees no problem with keeping a horse and its vet records together.

“Most of these horses stay in the same hands,” he said.

Ritvo said TSG will invest in any new technology or equipment that will help discover pre-existing injuries in horses.

-jp

.

[Jeff P]

Second article from yesterday --

APNews.com | By PAUL NEWBERRY | Friday March 8, 2019
Column: Horse racing needs to clean up its act _ or go away:
https://apnews.com/ecd8fa29fdfd4da68...ign=SocialFlow

"These are orthopedic failures, not single-step failures. The horse didn’t step in a hole. The horse didn’t take a bad step," she said. "If you bend a paper clip back and forth 200 times, then put it back in shape so it looks brand new and hand to me, the next time I bend it, it might come apart in two pieces even though I insist I did not bend it hard. That’s how these fractures occur."

It starts with a microfracture. Then a small, partial fracture. Finally, in the heat of a big race or perhaps just a light training session, the bone shatters.

It seems sudden, a fluke.

Most likely, it’s not.

"This is really just the normal physiological consequence of an increasing workload," Lyons said. "Take a human runner. Most runners know that when they increase their distances and then say, ‘Boy, my shins were killing me last night after a run,’ that they need to back off for the next week. They need to let it heal. What they do with horses is give them anti-inflammatories without a diagnosis, then keep training and racing."

Lyons said new technology is being developed that would allow a CT scan to be performed in a matter of minutes on a horse’s front and rear legs, which could be a revolutionary step forward in equine medical care. But the industry must be willing to pay for the machines, which are expected to cost about $300,000 apiece. Also, there must be enforcement in place to ensure that when a potential problem is discovered, the horse is kept off the track until fully healed."

Reading between the lines of these two articles--

As news of this spreads, I wouldn't be surprised if in the not too distant future, tracks were forced into scanning horses for microfractures.


-jp

.

[Tom]

That would be a good idea - scanning mandatory.
Owner pays.

Vet records - it's a no-brainer they belong with the horse, and available for public scrutiny. In real time. You geld your horse, it goes in the database immediately.

Time for racing to come out of the 19th century.