Would love to talk to the Clueless Clown Racing Exec\'s in Cali
HORSE RACING
Thoroughbreds suffer a higher number of fatal injuries on synthetic surfaces compared to dirt
A UC Davis study of horse deaths at California tracks has documented for the first time that thoroughbreds suffer a higher number of fatal hind rear injuries on race tracks with synthetic surfaces compared to dirt.
In statistics compiled from 2008, nine thoroughbred deaths resulted from left rear injuries and 10 from right rear injuries on synthetic tracks. There was only one death on dirt from a hind rear injury, according to the study.
The debate over dirt versus synthetic tracks has roiled the horse racing industry in recent years.
But the study was inconclusive about whether more fatal front leg injuries occurred on dirt or synthetic surfaces.
The largest number of fatal fractures were front limbs, with 36 horses suffering right-front injuries on synthetic tracks compared to 22 on dirt, and 38 had left-front injuries on synthetic surfaces compared to 37 on dirt tracks, according to the study.
The research was revealed Thursday during a meeting of the California Horse Racing Board at Del Mar.
The CHRB has mandated that any horse that dies at a race track be sent to UC Davis for a postmortem.
Hailu Kinde, interim director for the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System, said there were 351 horses submitted in 2008 for postmortems, including 258 thoroughbreds and 86 quarterhorses.
Kinde declined to say whether synthetic or dirt tracks were safer. \"The data is not yet analyzed,\" he said.
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Not to even mention the harder falls jockeys are taking on the synth/pavement vs softer dirt/ground
sekrah Wrote:
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> Not to even mention the harder falls jockeys are
> taking on the synth/pavement vs softer dirt/ground
It\'s harder than Dirt?
As long as there is perfect weather (no extremes of temperature or moisture)and the synthetic tracks are maintained constantly, they are probably (almost) as safe as dirt tracks. Factor in any extreme weather or more than a month of racing/training on them and they start to fall apart fast. Basically, as long as you don\'t run horses over them, they\'re fine! Hey, that\'s not too bad for the millions they cost to put in and maintain, right? Factor in that you now only need change the entire focus of the breeding and training of horses for the last 100 years, take the brilliance and power out of the thoroughbred animal, and you\'ve got paradise - or - Southern California racing as the case may be.
You couldn\'t have two better examples of the impact of synthetic tracks on racing as Curlin and the whole Rachel/Zenyatta morass. Curlin, one of the most perfect-looking, moving thoroughbreds that has ever been produced floundered over the surface to a bunch of animals he would have cruised by on any dirt surface on any day in any weather. The two best fillies in a long time may not meet in the Breeder\'s Cup (the whole purpose of the Breeder\'s Cup in the first place) because horses like Rachel don\'t usually perform well over synthetic tracks. So we shouldn\'t aspire to breed/develop horses like Curlin or Rachel! Certainly not if we\'re racing on synthetic tracks.
All they should ever have been used for is at training facilities where owners/trainers have the option of training certain horses that might benefit over the surfaces. It is a complete joke what has happened out there, but what would you expect from a state that allowed trainers for years and years to get away with all conceivable methods of chemically improving a horse\'s performance with everything from steroids to milk-shakes to God-knows-what with not so much as a slap on the wrist.Everyone knew who was doing what and no one said anything. Then when the animals break down and get sent to Mexico to be slaughtered, and people looked for something to blame, they came up with the thesis: it must be the dirt!
Mike
These figures may be worsening at Del Mar, according to a friend who races there.
He claims everyone is talking about it: more breakdowns, more deaths.
Al,
If you speak out against synths out there, you are ostracized by a handful of trainers and track management, esp Clueless Joe Harper who is STILL stonewalling the synth mistake. Ask Baffy!
Mike
Heard on the Race Day Las Vegas show the other day that Jack Carava is pulling out all his horses and getting out of town early. Far cry from the old days when horses and people would stay at Del Mar as long as possible.
I heard Kathy Walsh lost one recently and was upset.
Another filly broke down this morning and had to be euthanized.