scratches at the gate

[KMS]

what would cause a horse to be scratched "on orders of the track veterinarian" just before the race. It happens every so often, and I've always wondered what would happen between the time they leave the paddock and the time they reach the gate.

[BillW]

Originally Posted by KMS

what would cause a horse to be scratched "on orders of the track veterinarian" just before the race. It happens every so often, and I've always wondered what would happen between the time they leave the paddock and the time they reach the gate.

Horse gets banged up while loading or while in the gate. Another (rare?) possibility is that the horse is refusing to load (would this be a steward scratch?).

[Pace Cap'n]

Perhaps the problem was only manifested during the warmup.

[CyberBet]

First would be if the vet sees something they did not like after the horse had warmed up. Or more likely the jockey tells the vet to look at something they have noticed. Sometimes the horse just does not feel right under the jock and they may ask for the vet. If the vet does not agree with the jock then you see a late rider change. If the vet does see or agree with the jock you get a late scratch.
I used to sit under the tree (now gone) at the 4 1/2 chute at Charles Town. You can hear everythig that is said before the race and after the start of the race. Trust me the talking going on in the race between jocks is hilarious.

[Jeff P]

Why gate scratches? Probably as many different reasons as different things that can go wrong with a horse.

But...

From a player's perspective, scratches have the ability to completely change the way we see a race. Yet gate crews at a lot of tracks just load the field and spring the latch in spite of us players.

Don't ALL tracks realize they could get more handle out of us if they adopted the following as standard operating procedure in the event of a gate scratch?

Give us players time to adjust for the scratch. An additional 3 minutes would probably do it.

Can't tell you how many times a little extra time after a gate scratch or late change would have enabled me to help a track boost their bottom line. I can't be the only one who sees it that way.


-jp

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[Tom]

Finger Lakes always use to do that - back them out and extend post time.
It's weird that so often people post about things they wish the so called big tracks would do and little old FL has been doing for years.

Why is it that the fans are typically ignored or the last ones to be considered?