Here we go again.\u00a0 Most of the time, horse rating is ignored by the national media.\u00a0 There are exceptions, of course.\u00a0 When an American Pharoah or Justify is running for Triple Crown glory, the national media converges; and, when that happens, the sport basks in the glow.<\/p>\n
There is the opposite side when negativity takes over and garners the headlines.\u00a0 The negative news is coming from Santa Anita Park, where, since Christmas, 20 horses have died on the new track, an average of 2.51\u00a0deaths per 1,000 starts.\u00a0\u00a0 Statistically, that may not seem like a lot, but it is and when that happens, everybody notices.<\/p>\n
Some have died in racing and others in training, but it\u2019s caused enough alarm for the track to close so the surfaces could be inspected.\u00a0 A day after it reopened, the 21st fatality occurred.<\/p>\n
We have been here before.\u00a0 Lawmakers in California, concerned about horse safety, mandated in 2003 that tracks install synthetic surfaces. \u00a0Del Mar, Golden Gate and Santa Anita, as well as the now closed Hollywood Park went from dirt to synthetic and guess what?\u00a0 Track fatalities dropped.<\/p>\n
From 2004 to 2006, there were 3.09 fatalities per 1,000 starts on the California tracks.\u00a0 After synthetic surfaces were installed, the number dropped to 1.94.\u00a0 In comparison, there were 2.4 fatalities on the turf.<\/p>\n
It looked like synthetic tracks\u2014usually Tapeta or Polytrack\u2014might catch on.\u00a0 Woodbine, Turfway, Arlington, and Keeneland all joined in and installed synthetics and fatalities kept decreasing.<\/p>\n
From 2009-2014, there were 2.07 deaths per 1,000 starts on dirt; 1.65 on turf and 1.22 on synthetic.\u00a0 Keeneland saw a precipitous drop from 1.98 to 0.33.\u00a0 Santa Anita saw its fatality rate drop to 0.90.\u00a0 It looked like things were heading in the right direction. Even PETA was for them, fairly quiet.<\/p>\n
As more and more synthetic surfaces emerged, so too, did the complaining.\u00a0 Handicappers couldn\u2019t figure out biases on synthetic; others thought synthetic played more like turf and more turf horses seemed to be having success on Polytrack and Tapeta.\u00a0 Trainers and owners didn\u2019t like it because it was fake and races like the Bluegrass Stakes and Santa Anita Derby, key prep races for the Kentucky Derby were not getting the strong fields as tracks that raced on dirt.<\/p>\n
Santa Anita hosted the 2008 and 2009 Breeders Cup on its synthetic surface and horse racing fans didn\u2019t seem to mind when, in the 2009 Breeder\u2019s Cup Classic, the fabulous filly Zenyatta ran down all the boys to win in glorious fashion.<\/p>\n
Joe Drape has covered horse racing for the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0for what seems like forever.\u00a0 He did some research and found that field sizes did not decrease on synthetic tracks nor did betting.\u00a0 It seemed like as long as there was a wager and money to make, handicappers were going to do their best to figure it out.<\/p>\n This is when horse racing might have stubbed its toe.\u00a0\u00a0 Fatalities were down, betting and field sizes remained consistent, but the bellyaching continued.\u00a0 The big trainers and owners didn\u2019t want to run on \u201cfake dirt,\u201d and the historians were struggling with comparing the great dirt horses with the potential of great synthetic horses.\u00a0 Some claimed that synthetic surfaces caused more soft tissue injuries than dirt.\u00a0 Supporters of the fake dirt claimed a soft tissue injury was much better than a fractured leg.\u00a0 Soft tissue injuries are no joke; they don\u2019t cause the horse to be euthanized, but for most, a soft tissue injury ends a racing career.<\/p>\n The debate was on.\u00a0 The problem was the lack of uniformity.\u00a0 The Triple Crown races were dirt races; Saratoga, Churchill, Belmont and Gulfstream were dirt tracks while Keeneland, Santa Anita and Del Mar countered with synthetic.\u00a0\u00a0 If horse racing had a national governing body, they could have made all tracks switch to the safer surface.\u00a0 If all tracks were synthetic, then it would get easier to train, handicap and run races.<\/p>\n As we know, that didn\u2019t happen.\u00a0 In 2010, Santa Anita went back to dirt.\u00a0 They were afraid that the Breeder\u2019s Cup wouldn\u2019t return, so dirt was brought back and guess what happened?\u00a0 Fatalities went up.<\/p>\n From 2010-2013, Santa Anita, which had a 0.90 fatality rate on synthetics, saw its numbers spike to 3.45 then down to 2.94, 2.89 and 2.11 respectively.\u00a0 But, they got the Breeder\u2019s Cup back in 2014 and 2016 and Del Mar, which also went back to dirt in 2015, hosted in 2017.<\/p>\n Saratoga is the summer place to be, and because over 1 million fans flock to the Spa over its 40-day meet, eyes are watching.\u00a0 In 2015, there were 13 fatalities.\u00a0 That number rose to 16 in \u201916 and then 21 in \u201917, before dropping to 11 in 2018.\u00a0 We need to be fair.\u00a0 Not all these fatalities occurred in races in front of 35,000 fans.\u00a0 Some occurred in training while others died in the barns.\u00a0 Still, when horses die at prominent meets and venues, those that think horse racing is inhumane are out in full force.\u00a0 The February breakdown at Aqueduct goes relatively unnoticed, but an August one at Saratoga draws PETA and others.<\/p>\n What if all tracks agreed to switch to Tapeta? Or Polytrack?\u00a0 Would you have abandoned your love of horse racing?\u00a0 Or, would you have adapted and figured it out?\u00a0 I\u2019m not advocating for synthetics, but to me, the numbers are glaring and stark and simple\u2014there are fewer deaths on tracks that have synthetic racing surfaces.<\/p>\n What I hated was the inconsistency.\u00a0 Saratoga was dirt, yet Del Mar was synthetic. We see this in baseball\u2014one league makes pitchers bat, the other uses designated hitters.\u00a0 Personally, I prefer the DH, but I want one rule for both leagues.\u00a0 The same can be said for horse racing.\u00a0 If every track had synthetic, Bob Baffert, Todd Pletcher and Bill Mott would have adjusted, but it isn\u2019t easy running a horse on Tapeta and then on dirt.\u00a0 Something had to give and in the end, the industry went with tradition and most tracks chose dirt.<\/p>\n Today, we are down to five\u2014in addition to Woodbine; Arlington, Presque Isle (PA), Turfway and Golden Gate Fields (CA) are the only tracks in North America running on synthetics.\u00a0 Woodbine is the Canadian track and because of that, has a good stable of horses each year.\u00a0 The Queen\u2019s Plate is Canada\u2019s most prestigious race.\u00a0 It\u2019s been run 158 times and if your horse is Canadian bred, it\u2019s THE race to win.<\/p>\n Turfway Park does host the Jeff Ruby Steaks (formerly the Spiral Stakes) and the winning horse does get 20 points toward Kentucky Derby qualification, but the remaining tracks host, for the most part, claiming and small pursed allowance races.\u00a0 Animal Kingdom did prove in 2011 that a horse can win a Derby prep on synthetic and then win the Derby on dirt when he did the Spiral-Derby double.<\/p>\n I would have liked ALL tracks to give synthetics a try.\u00a0 What if all tracks saw equine fatalities decrease?\u00a0 If the Kentucky Derby, the Travers and the Breeder\u2019s Cup Classic were all run on Tapeta or Polytrack, would the naysayers have gone away?<\/p>\n Horse racing is what it is.\u00a0 Tracks compete to get the best horses they can.\u00a0 Saratoga competes against Del Mar; Keeneland against Belmont and Finger Lakes battles Thistledown. For the purists, the decision was easy\u2014dirt.\u00a0 Others thought about safety and chose\u2014fake dirt.<\/p>\n We know that horses need to run to make their connections money.\u00a0 A horse that isn\u2019t running is costing its owner money.\u00a0 But sports are trying to take the athlete into consideration.\u00a0 The NBA limited the number of back-to-back games and the NFL has made several rule changes to help reduce concussions.\u00a0 The new Alliance of American Football has outlawed kickoffs.<\/p>\n It looked like horse racing was at the forefront of the movement.\u00a0 Synthetic tracks were installed and equine fatalities went down.\u00a0 But in the end, the sport catered to the humans; the ones that spend the money in the game.\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying what they did was wrong, but once again, it would have been interesting to see what would have happened had Saratoga and Churchill switched to a synthetic surface.\u00a0 My bet is that all would have followed suit, but that didn\u2019t happen and now all but five are running on dirt.<\/p>\n For now, Santa Anita is taking the heat.\u00a0 As expected, there are groups that are calling for the end of horse racing\u2014everywhere\u2014not just Santa Anita.\u00a0 The last thing the sport needs is to have a big crowd and to see the tent go up to indicate an euthanization of a horse.\u00a0 Many that see that never return.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure seeing 21 horses perish at Santa Anita since December 26 will lead to significant reform in the industry.\u00a0 Sixteen years ago, it looked like significant reform was being made, but 10 years later, it stalled\/ended.<\/p>\n As they say, shutting the barn door after the horses have left prevents nothing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here we go again.\u00a0 Most of the time, horse rating is ignored by the national media.\u00a0 There are exceptions, of course.\u00a0 When an American Pharoah or Justify is running for Triple Crown glory, the national media converges; and, when that happens, the sport basks in the glow. There is the opposite side when negativity takes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":189,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n