Del Mar

[TMW]

Turf disaster continues. Another breakdown today. No turf racing Friday, Saturday, Sunday. My horse will scratch out of the scheduled 3rd turf race on Saturday -- I am relieved. What a travesty...

[siphonbobby]

Wonder whats going happen in the 6th Fri now thats its off turf? On the turf i was gonna take a stand in the pick 6 and use only 5,8 now who knows. Dont really wanna go deep in this leg because besides soloing the Peter Miller chalk in the 3rd and his speed horse in the 7th i wanna use all in other 3 legs

[jerry]

Big problem out there. Need to tear up that green sidewalk and replace it with real turf. Look forward to all turf racing cancelled through end of the meet.

[TMW]

Another loss today in the 3rd. I am at a loss for words. New management required at Del Mar. I am a hardened racetracker/owner. What I am experiencing at DM is very sad! 10 in 3 weeks -- really?

[P-Dub]

TMW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Another loss today in the 3rd. I am at a loss for
> words. New management required at Del Mar. I am a
> hardened racetracker/owner. What I am experiencing
> at DM is very sad! 10 in 3 weeks -- really?

Its more than sad, its disgusting. I cringe every time I watch a race, hoping another horse doesn\'t injure itself (or worse).  My cousin is attending the races today, corporate gathering up in the Sky Fiddle Room. Racetrack novices, I hope they don\'t have to witness another breakdown.  So much for synthetics being safe.

[Boscar Obarra]

Nothing is safe, there\'s only more or less safe.

 You every see a slomo of a horses hoof as it\'s running?

 Miracle they make it around the track at all.

[P-Dub]

Maybe so.

But does every track have the number of breakdowns like this place??

[shanahan]

oh man, that\'s tough to take...still heading that way Friday though.

[BitPlayer]

The incident in the 3d was on the main track and, from the result chart (horse collapsed while being pulled up, rather than breaking down), sounds unrelated to the condition of the track.

I\'m not sure how management is to blame for all that\'s happened, unless you take the position they should never have replaced and widened the turf course to attract the Breeders Cup.

I wonder if this is going to make them rethink their decision to go back to a dirt main track.

[TMW]

You are being a lot more sympathetic to track management than I am able to be.

The horse breakdown occurred right in front of my box (for the 3rd time this year). You are correct, this time it was on the synthetic and not turf. I don\'t know if he broke his leg, had a heart attack, or whatever but he was euthanized. 3 weeks of racing and at least 10 horses are dead and I have witnessed them all. By far the worst I have ever seen at this or any track.


Regarding the turf surface, they ran out of time and installed a surface that has very little grown grass. It is unsafe and the track record times prove it. When horses fracture their legs it is because the race surface is too hard -- definitely the case at DM on the turf. Management was in a hurry to get awarded the 2017 BC and they were successful. Now they are paying the price or at least the owners and fans are. Harper continues to cross his arms, blink his eyes and state the track surfaces are safe. BS.

I love DM -- it is one of my favorite places -- but this has been sickening.

[TreadHead]

I\'ve read multiple comments that state this simply isn\'t the case on the turf.  Several riders commented that the course seems to have normal give/bounce to it and they really aren\'t getting why there are so many incidents on the turf.  The basically equal number of occurrences on the poly definitely makes this a much greyer area of discussion, poly didn\'t go from being relatively safe (break-down wise anyway) to this dangerous with the snap of a finger.

I think some focus needs to be placed on connections rushing unsound horses into these races for the purposes of running at the \"Glamour Meet\".  I\'m not saying this caused 100% of the problems, but dont think track conditions have caused 100% either.  The reality is probably somewhere in the middle, especially when you consider problems exist on both turf and synth.  There have been several voided claims so far, which lends further evidence to it being a horse problem just as much as a surface problem.

[alang]

Every day after workouts there is a crew of about 8-10 people picking up rocks from under the polytrack surface.

[TMW]

I think your comments are fair. I was actually going to address your issue in my previous post but my post was getting too long as it was.

DM has a generous incentive program for horses who previously ran at another track and shipped into DM. The reason for this is to increase the number of horses running in each race -- something all of us can appreciate. I know NOW Harper has increased the daily inspection of each race day horse from one inspection to several the day of the race. I think he is leaning too much to a bad horse/good track surface opinion -- I am strongly leaning the other way. He is an experienced executive and prefers the criticism to be anywhere other than safety issues. I would encourage him to strip away all of the excuses as he has begun to do and will hope for the best.

[jp702006]

Breakdowns are bad for everyone involved. Owners, trainers and fans are all effected. However, not one single trainer or jockey has come forward and stated they have a problem with either the turf or polytrack at Del Mar. I am sure the truth lies somewhere in the middle.........

[jerry]

Horses don\'t break track records, racetracks do. And racetracks that produce track records are dangerous.