Santa Anita Shuts Down

[Dahossdaboss]

The point of being proactive Dilan is that you can avoid crisis situations. By the time you are reactive it is too late.

They couldn’t have looked into the rash of breakdowns after the 10th? 15th?

I agree some is bad luck, but they waited far too long. By the time mainstream media picked it up, it was too late.

Had they been proactive they could have controlled the narrative. Since they were reactive they are the ones that are being controlled.

Belinda and the rest of the incompetents (Ritvo, etc) are the problem. They were the problem when they forced the super out. They were the problem when they fired the track secretary. They were the problem when they were trying to strongarm trainers to run. And they were the problem when they allowed the biggest PR nightmare in this sports history to happen while they put their hands over their ears and screamed “la la la,”hoping it’d go away.

They compounded all that stupidity by giving PETA a seat at the table.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by Dahossdaboss

The point of being proactive Dilan is that you can avoid crisis situations. By the time you are reactive it is too late.

They couldn’t have looked into the rash of breakdowns after the 10th? 15th?

I agree some is bad luck, but they waited far too long. By the time mainstream media picked it up, it was too late.

Had they been proactive they could have controlled the narrative. Since they were reactive they are the ones that are being controlled.

Belinda and the rest of the incompetents (Ritvo, etc) are the problem. They were the problem when they forced the super out. They were the problem when they fired the track secretary. They were the problem when they were trying to strongarm trainers to run. And they were the problem when they allowed the biggest PR nightmare in this sports history to happen while they put their hands over their ears and screamed “la la la,”hoping it’d go away.

They compounded all that stupidity by giving PETA a seat at the table.

1. PETA has a seat at the table because they have the power to put us out of business in California. Several of you don't realize this. PETA is POPULAR in California. Santa Anita used to be 30 years ago, but isn't now. There are plenty of liberal animal rights-oriented California voters who have never been to a horse race, or haven't been to one in decades. They can destroy us. Placating PETA is an absolute precondition of having ANY horse racing in California.

2. There's no "proactivity" that could have prevented the 23 deaths, other than doing things that would have probably resulted in the cancellation of racing much earlier. And Santa Anita wasn't, under any management, going to do things that would have resulted in a cancellation of racing earlier. Indeed, the horsemen and the CHRB would have been on their ass if they did.

Belinda Stronach is stuck here. She is not the reason this happened. She is being forced in different directions by forces she cannot control, and nobody can.

[Redboard]

Originally Posted by Cholly

Dog piling by the media is only growing. L.A. Times (about as mainstream as a newspaper can get) today had editorial calling for immediate suspension of racing at Santa Anita:

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/edit...404-story.html

…..

get front and center right away and explain how that's not true. It's not true, is it?

The story mentions: "The Jockey Club, the 125-year old organization that oversees the breeding registry of thoroughbreds in the U.S. and Canada, issued a scathing report in late March decrying the widespread use of Lasix — the controversial and powerful diuretic — on race days, as well as the use of injury-masking painkillers just before race days. The report warned that spikes in deaths will continue across the country until significant reforms are put in place to lessen the chances of horses running on injuries."

This is fake news. I see that there are five new releases(3/2019) on The Jockey Club's website. None of them "decry" the use of Lasix. One does recommend discontinuing the use of Bisphosphonates.

The Jockey Club,
http://www.jockeyclub.com/default.as...vocacy&area=14
http://www.jockeyclub.com/default.as...vocacy&area=10

One of their recommendations I find interesting: "Recommendation: Creation of an Industry Crisis Response Plan: The public perception of Thoroughbred racing may be diminished due to failure to respond in a comprehensive, thoughtful, and coordinated manner during times of crises. "

[Dahossdaboss]

Originally Posted by dilanesp

1. PETA has a seat at the table because they have the power to put us out of business in California. Several of you don't realize this. PETA is POPULAR in California. Santa Anita used to be 30 years ago, but isn't now. There are plenty of liberal animal rights-oriented California voters who have never been to a horse race, or haven't been to one in decades. They can destroy us. Placating PETA is an absolute precondition of having ANY horse racing in California.

2. There's no "proactivity" that could have prevented the 23 deaths, other than doing things that would have probably resulted in the cancellation of racing much earlier. And Santa Anita wasn't, under any management, going to do things that would have resulted in a cancellation of racing earlier. Indeed, the horsemen and the CHRB would have been on their ass if they did.

Belinda Stronach is stuck here. She is not the reason this happened. She is being forced in different directions by forces she cannot control, and nobody can.

This was a nice twist of what I said. TSG could have looked into things after death 10 or 15. They waited until mainstream media caught wind of it at 20 or so.

But you’re right, nothing proactively could have been done.

I also like how you totally ignore the reasons they got to where they are. Most were poor decisions by TSG.

PETA has a seat at the table because Belinda is weak and awful at what she does. They didn’t appear until after the 20th death. But yeah, nothing proactively could have been done.

You’re literally the only person I’ve seen since this went down defending Belinda. That’s either massive confusion or trolling. Either way it’s a bad look.

[rtnwin]

I believe this is the Jockey Club report the LA Times is referring to.
http://www.jockeyclub.com/default.as...=10&story=1110

[davew]

Originally Posted by Dahossdaboss

This was a nice twist of what I said. TSG could have looked into things after death 10 or 15. They waited until mainstream media caught wind of it at 20 or so.

But you’re right, nothing proactively could have been done.

I also like how you totally ignore the reasons they got to where they are. Most were poor decisions by TSG.

PETA has a seat at the table because Belinda is weak and awful at what she does. They didn’t appear until after the 20th death. But yeah, nothing proactively could have been done.

You’re literally the only person I’ve seen since this went down defending Belinda. That’s either massive confusion or trolling. Either way it’s a bad look.

If Belinda keeps it up, the value of Santa Anita will drop so much that you, or you and a bunch of your friends can buy the place ... and then run it like you know it should be.

[Dahossdaboss]

Originally Posted by davew

If Belinda keeps it up, the value of Santa Anita will drop so much that you, or you and a bunch of your friends can buy the place ... and then run it like you know it should be.

First thing I’d do is run 9 races a day down the hill.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by Dahossdaboss

This was a nice twist of what I said. TSG could have looked into things after death 10 or 15. They waited until mainstream media caught wind of it at 20 or so.

But you’re right, nothing proactively could have been done.

I also like how you totally ignore the reasons they got to where they are. Most were poor decisions by TSG.

PETA has a seat at the table because Belinda is weak and awful at what she does. They didn’t appear until after the 20th death. But yeah, nothing proactively could have been done.

You’re literally the only person I’ve seen since this went down defending Belinda. That’s either massive confusion or trolling. Either way it’s a bad look.

FYI, PETA protesters have been outside the front gate every time I have been to Del Mar, and about a third of the time I have been at Santa Anita, since at least 2015 They also actively protested the last two Breeders' Cups in Southern California.

PETA had "a seat at the table" BEFORE the latest controversy. Belinda didn't let them in. They have been a major player in California horse racing for a significant amount of time.

[Dahossdaboss]

Originally Posted by dilanesp

FYI, PETA protesters have been outside the front gate every time I have been to Del Mar, and about a third of the time I have been at Santa Anita, since at least 2015 They also actively protested the last two Breeders' Cups in Southern California.

PETA had "a seat at the table" BEFORE the latest controversy. Belinda didn't let them in. They have been a major player in California horse racing for a significant amount of time.

They were a “major player” because a few protesters were outside the front gate? Interesting.

Wouldn’t that be all the more reason to react after the 10th death, instead of the 20th? If they are protesting when times were good what did TSG think would happen after horses kept mysteriously dropping dead?

You continue to ignore all of the mistakes that were made leading up to this. Are you intentionally ignoring it or you don’t agree?

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by Dahossdaboss

They were a “major player” because a few protesters were outside the front gate? Interesting.

Wouldn’t that be all the more reason to react after the 10th death, instead of the 20th? If they are protesting when times were good what did TSG think would happen after horses kept mysteriously dropping dead?

You continue to ignore all of the mistakes that were made leading up to this. Are you intentionally ignoring it or you don’t agree?

What SPECIFICALLY should they have done after the 10th death? It sounds good to say they didn't react until later (you don't actually know that, by the way- there may have been steps taken behind the scenes), but what, SPECIFICALLY, did they not do?

Now before you answer that- bear in mind that Santa Anita has an agreement with the horsemen to card races, and has promised the CHRB to run races too. So an answer that involves either (a) shutting down the track or (b) not sealing the track resulting in lost cards after rainstorms is not a viable answer.

Tell us, DaHoss, exactly what SA could have done that would have avoided the situation we are in now? No generalities about "react earlier". What's the specific reaction which would have prevented the crisis?

I am reminded of something another LA sports figure, Tom Lasorda, used to say about armchair baseball managers. "This [censored] job is not that [censored] easy."

[Dahossdaboss]

Originally Posted by dilanesp

What SPECIFICALLY should they have done after the 10th death? It sounds good to say they didn't react until later (you don't actually know that, by the way- there may have been steps taken behind the scenes), but what, SPECIFICALLY, did they not do?

Now before you answer that- bear in mind that Santa Anita has an agreement with the horsemen to card races, and has promised the CHRB to run races too. So an answer that involves either (a) shutting down the track or (b) not sealing the track resulting in lost cards after rainstorms is not a viable answer.

Tell us, DaHoss, exactly what SA could have done that would have avoided the situation we are in now? No generalities about "react earlier". What's the specific reaction which would have prevented the crisis?

I am reminded of something another LA sports figure, Tom Lasorda, used to say about armchair baseball managers. "This [censored] job is not that [censored] easy."

You keep moving the goalposts every post. On top of that you’ve now ignored the fact that TSG got the ball rolling with their mistakes BEFORE the meet started. I’ve asked you about it, wondered why you keep ignoring it...but now you want me to explain myself even further? And you give me things I’m not allowed to say? That’s rich.

Cards would be lost if the track isn’t sealed? Why exactly? Not all tracks are sealed after rains. Is it possible the track was sealed too much? Maybe by someone new at the job that wasn’t as familiar with the surface as the guy they forced out? Hmmmm...

If as you say PETA is a “major player” in California horse racing I’d be cognizant of that. After a rash of breakdowns (10 or so) I would have done what they did when they were FORCED to because they reacted. I would have issued a statement that we are aware there is potentially a problem and we are doing everything in our power to correct it.

I would have brought in experts (like they did when it was too late) to test the surface. I’d speak with jockeys and trainers to find out what they are seeing on a daily basis. I’d stop worrying about the bottom line for a moment and have the foresight to see this could lead to a much bigger problem if we do not head this off.

I’d stop trying to force trainers to run when they don’t want to (see Shelbe Ruis, etc). I would have wanted to look at the vet records for the horses that broke down to see if there was a pattern.

Now, this will be my last post to you until you address what they did BEFORE the meet started and during it that contributed to this. If you want to continue to ignore that reality I’m done.

Again, you’re literally the only person I’ve seen defend TSG on every social media platform I visit. It means you’re either trolling (kudos if you are) or youre just totally misinformed. Either way I have much better things to do than do this with you...like clip my toe nails.

[Tom]

They used to run tracks when it rained.
At FL, we had rip tines on the clubhouse turn.
Horse handled mud and slop and worse just fine.
No one cared that the times were slow.
Remember the * marks?

Run or cancel, just don't seal during the afternoon.
SEal overnight, but harrow it before racing over it.

And most importantly, know that the hell you are doing before you work on a track. SA has a history of ignoring that. Historically, they are the Keystone Cops of track maintenance.

[Redboard]

Originally Posted by rtnwin

I believe this is the Jockey Club report the LA Times is referring to.
http://www.jockeyclub.com/default.as...=10&story=1110

Thanks for that link.

It looks like the Jockey Club has been very busy over the past 10 days. I don't know why they didn't do this earlier. Maybe it was falling on deaf ears? These quotes are pretty damning "“we lag behind cheaters and abusers and by the time we have caught up they have moved on to the next designer substance. ..... and purposeful deceit about what drugs are given to horses at what times.”

So they just saying what we all knew, these horsemen are a bunch of lying, cheating sacks of sh*t that will do anything to the horse to get him to run faster.

Good luck getting rid of Lasix in Kentucky. A few years ago Keenland tried running Lasix-free races and a judge wouldn't let them. IMO Kentucky has the most blame here. They make a windfall off of the derby, and they did nothing but piss that money away on failed minor tracks over the years. They could have lead the way to make the sport clean. They could have put that money into catching the cheaters. They don't want synthetic surfaces, which we all know is safer, because it will set their breeding industry back.

As a Florida resident, I voted to ban dog racing, and if given the chance, I'd vote the same for horse racing. This industry needs a wakeup call.

[bob60566]

It’s time we joined the rest of the world in putting in place the best measures to protect the health and safety of our equine athletes and that can be done only with comprehensive reform.

Reform that includes creation of an independent central rule-making authority, full transparency into all medical treatments and procedures, comprehensive drug reform, and strict anti-doping testing both in an out of competition.

From Jockey club article on above post.http://www.jockeyclub.com/default.as...=10&story=1110

What comes first the horse or the track.

[the little guy]

Originally Posted by davew

If Belinda keeps it up, the value of Santa Anita will drop so much that you, or you and a bunch of your friends can buy the place ... and then run it like you know it should be.

Not necessarily. I could be wrong, but I think the value of that property skyrockets if racing is abolished.