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03-24-2012, 04:58 PM
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 67
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Death and Disarray at Americas Racetracks
I would love to hear what the community has to say on this investigative piece from the NY times. Personally I didn't know that New Mexico was such a standout in incidents involving both horses and riders.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/us...acetracks.html
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03-24-2012, 05:17 PM
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#2
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 3,761
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Interesting results. It's all there in their chart comment based data.
Did you know that while cheaper claiming races are more dangerous, Finger Lakes is the safest thoroughbred track in NY? Next thing you know they'll say Saratoga must be the worst, right?
Incidents per 1,000 starters at New York tracks:
5.5 Saratoga
5.3 Aqueduct
4.8 Belmont Park
2.5 Finger Lakes
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...isks-vary.html
Last edited by FenceBored; 03-24-2012 at 05:18 PM.
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03-24-2012, 05:34 PM
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#3
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Bird Rock
Posts: 16,697
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Racing has a new PR director. Dr. R.Arthur.
Quote:
“It’s hard to justify how many horses we go through,” said Dr. Rick Arthur, the equine medical director for the California Racing Board. “In humans you never see someone snap their leg off running in the Olympics. But you see it in horse racing.”
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03-24-2012, 05:38 PM
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#4
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 3,761
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For the alternate view here's the link to the Equine Injury Database data on Saratoga's Racing fatalities over the past three seasons:
http://jockeyclub.com/pdfs/eid/_Saratoga.pdf
Summary (fatalities per 1,000 starters):
2009: 0.98
2010: 1.52
2011: 0.93
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03-24-2012, 05:58 PM
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#5
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gelding
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 8,883
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It should be noted that those numbers the NYT estimates include breakdowns and "signs of injury" culled from racing reports, vs confirmed fatalities in the EID report. So it's not surprising there's a disparity.
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03-24-2012, 07:12 PM
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#6
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Ringkoebing
Posts: 4,342
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Racing in the US is just going to continue to plummet to its own death as long as it doesn't clean up its act. You can make up any argument you like, but in the end the simple fact is that the use of drugs leads to more breakdowns, and every breakdown is a little disaster for the sport. One year of little disasters is merely a blip on the bottom line. 20 years of these little disasters form a major turn-off for entire generations of potential fans.
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03-24-2012, 07:33 PM
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#7
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 192
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Some breakdowns are inevitable. Olympic athletes aren't being steered with over 100 lbs on their backs at high speed. Nice horses from nice barns break down.
However, I would like to see the stats on cheap claimers vs. higher level horses. Trainers enter compromised horses hoping they get claimed all the time and these types should not consider themselves true horseman...... Maybe a change to the claiming rules (breakdown=no money) would help.
Anyone that has a problem with this is part of the problem.
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03-24-2012, 07:56 PM
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#8
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 99
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Delawaretrainer
However, I would like to see the stats on cheap claimers vs. higher level horses. Trainers enter compromised horses hoping they get claimed all the time and these types should not consider themselves true horseman...... Maybe a change to the claiming rules (breakdown=no money) would help.
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Per the graph on the right side of the article:
Claiming price Incidents/1,000 starts
$0 to $5,000 6.5
$5,000 to $7,500 6.1
$7,500 to $20,000 4.9
> $20,000 4.3
Non-claiming 4.5
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03-24-2012, 08:06 PM
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#9
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Just another Facist
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Now in Houston
Posts: 52,822
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Devastating article
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03-24-2012, 08:13 PM
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#10
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 99
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When is part 2?
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03-24-2012, 09:56 PM
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#11
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Veteran
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 237
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JustRalph
Devastating article
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Right on the mark, just an awful indictment of racing
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03-25-2012, 01:53 AM
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#12
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Veteran
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 515
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Racing has a new PR director. Dr. R.Arthur.
Quote:
“It’s hard to justify how many horses we go through,” said Dr. Rick Arthur, the equine medical director for the California Racing Board. “In humans you never see someone snap their leg off running in the Olympics. But you see it in horse racing.”
Yeah, but a few years ago a weight lifter dislocated his shoulder and it looked even worse than snapping a leg.
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03-25-2012, 02:03 AM
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#13
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 3,089
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How about how many baseball pitchers go thru Tommy John surgery or never make it out of the minors due to injury? Or the concussions and other injuries football players get?
Granted they don't die (and it is tragic when horses do) but athletes get hurt.
Cleaning up the drugs would be a big step forward....but the whole sport seems to need a clean up that i doubt will happen.
Last edited by jdhanover; 03-25-2012 at 02:08 AM.
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03-25-2012, 02:12 AM
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#14
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PA Steward
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Del Boca Vista
Posts: 88,658
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JustRalph
Devastating article
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I'm inclined to agree.
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03-25-2012, 02:44 AM
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#15
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 4,333
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bigmack
Racing has a new PR director. Dr. R.Arthur.
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When he spoke out during the "Refinery" case , I stopped taking hm seriously .
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