I have to say I\'ve never seen a worse jockey colony at any major racing circuit than the group assembled at Del Mar this year. What jockey can you bet on in So. Cal. and feel confident about? It\'s a shame for the owners trainers and gamblers. You put in all that time and effort and money, and you\'re all ready for a top result, and then, say, Mike Smith feels like pulling the horse up and there you go. He seems to do on about 1/3 of his mounts these days by the way. Really amazing.
To contrast, Saratoga has about 10 jockeys I would say are among the best in the world, and on any given race you get one of those riders.
Del Mar\'s turf course is closed today by the way, something about it being unsafe. The poly is a no passing zone with track records falling in every race, too. Couple that with payoffs that are so low on exotics you\'d think someone was hacking into the computers (again). Check out Thursday\'s pick four payoff (22.40, 33.60, 18.00 and 9.20 for 1900!). It\'s almost like you just can\'t play Del Mar for any reason, ever. Really sad what\'s happened out there.
I\'m not venting here: what I see at Del Mar is borderline criminal. And I\'d love to talk to a trainer who uses Smith and examine his thought processes. What was he doing on Soi Phet yesterday? I know, maybe the horse was no good and no one was beating Fed Biz. I get that, but he\'s inside with speed on a track that has favored speed on a surface which the horse loves, and he decides to grab the horse and try to stalk? You don\'t even try to get the rail and the lead, not even for a quarter mile? Seriously? It\'s like a movie where the jock is stiffing the horses because some guy named Tony has threatened to break some bones. Can he really just be that bad of a rider???
4 horses euthanized in 2 days. One was right in front of my box. Disgusting and very sad. My young daughter does not want to go back to the track and I have owned horses for 24 years. Track records every day on turf and poly. And, why again will the BC be held there (I am sure a lot of Euros will show up to run on the green concrete). Time for Harper to earn his outrageous pay and make BOTH track surfaces safe. Weekend cut short for me...
After reading your post, maybe the jocks out there are so scared of dying they ride like that. I should apologize to Smith. If the surface is so unsafe that might explain not riding every horse. Just terrible. Sorry your daughter had to see that.
Dana666 Wrote:
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> After reading your post, maybe the jocks out there
> are so scared of dying they ride like that. I
> should apologize to Smith. If the surface is so
> unsafe that might explain not riding every horse.
> Just terrible. Sorry your daughter had to see
> that.
I\'m quite certain the jock feedback to Dmr management re prevailing conditions was beyond fascinating.
The new turf course was expanded to allow for larger fields. It was done to get the BC for 2017. Problem is there is very little grown grass so the horses are essentially running on hard dirt that cannot be manicured. Harper says they will aerate the grass (or actually dirt since there is little grass) to slow the surface down. Of course, that will probably cause an uneven surface and create more problems.
Harper says the surface is safe and quotes Mike Smith as saying so. BS. When they do resume \"turf\" racing, I expect very small fields. A shame and I remember the old days when you would handicap for closers on the grass at the beginning of the meet when the grass was long and adjust your handicapping later in the meet for speed as the grass wore down. Those days are long gone.
A small thing but just more incompetence. I look at DMTC.com for changes at 10am just after they updated it no mention of being off the turf. I handicap for a while then go to DRF and read they took today\'s races off the turf last night. They just updated again at 10:51 and there still telling you the temporary rail setting for the 5th and 9th. It just rained pretty good a few miles south of the track assuming it rained there. Maybe it will end the inside bias on the poly. If outside closers got a chance today the #1 in the 4th might swing out on the 2nd turn and go by them all
Anyone see the 9th Race at Delmar today (Sunday)? Del Mar stupidity continues. The #5 horse Disregarded took off on Trujillo and went 1/2 way around track at a pretty good lick. Trujillo had a heck of a time pulling him up. Had to get outrider help. This was just a few minutes from post. Long story short, no vet check, no nothing. They loaded horse up, and broke and faded to last. That is not right for bettors. Delmar continues to disappoint.
TVG announcer said it might have been by design which i had a hard time believing. Thankfully Thoro sheets have been on fire there today. Hopefully can close it out with the 7 in the last.
I wheeled the 7 in the exacta. He paid $14 to place and the exacta seemed a little lite at $31. I thought it would have been closer to $50.