OK, the weather will be perfect. The turf course fair, main track, as always, fast, tending toward speed and inside posts but not crazy biased, so the last intangible factor is the drug situation. What types of testing will they be doing? Anything above and beyond the normal situation? Detention barns?
How do we read the super-trainers who will be well-represented?
Am I understanding correctly that juveniles will be using Lasix this year? I heard that on TVG.
I would love a BC where we just factor in sheet numbers, odds and past performances!
Any insight would be appreciated.
Supposedly out of competition testing and 24/7 security the last 72 hours.
Dana,
You can find a detailed description of the testing and procedures the BC has committed itself to beginning on page 80 of the guide linked below. I\'m not aware of any independent means to verify that they are being done. The routine is supposed to include daily inspections of an entrant; TCO2 testing on every entrant; out of competition testing (for which substances??) and post-race testing performed on at least the first four finishers in any BC race.
https://members.breederscup.com/doc%20repository/other/hig.pdf
Your second sentence is key, which is why we need drug test results to be published in detail.
I would assume that its possible to weed out which trainers underachieve by looking at how much their horses slow up during the BC.
Private Zone is an interesting horse. Throw out his turf race, and his biggest flop was in the BC last year. He\'s very fast in all his other races, but in last year\'s BC, he was slow.
Just in that one race, on BC day, he was ordinary. Everything else is great.
This from Anderson at drf:
\"The Breeders\' Cup horses racing at Santa Anita on Friday and Saturday are being watched. Since Tuesday and Wednesday, all runners are under surveillance from a security team on a 24-hour basis leading to the races.
BC officials discussed security and safety issues at a press conference on Thursday morning.
Out-of-competition testing has taken place on a third of the runners, selected randomly, in recent weeks, according to Dr. Rick Arthur, California\'s equine medical director. Arthur said that all completed tests have shown no positives, and that one of the tests is being conducted today.
Overall, 150 surveillance staff have been hired for the 24-hour security team. In addition, California Horse Racing Board investigators and their counterparts from other circuits, are working in the barn area.
The security staff will register hour-by-hour activities for all horses, recording the names and occupations of anyone that goes into a stall.
Pre-race inspections will be handled on Friday and Saturday mornings by teams of veterinarians. Vets will also be in the paddock and on the racetrack, as is customary on a year-round basis in California.\"
Phil, thanks for posting this
I think the testing is great and important.
I think the 24 hr. survelliance stuff is more show than anything else.
It\'s the same thing they do for the Derby and Oaks and the reality is that the folks doing the \"guarding\" of the horses have no idea what the people are doing inside those stalls when they are in there.
This is not a knock on the guards. It wouldn\'t be any different if I were the one guarding the horse.
If people really want to do something to the horse, they just swtich the horse into a different stall that isn\'t being \"guarded\" and then go do their their thing. Also, I have seen guards watch as a trainer or vet works on a horse that is under supervision but the guard has no real way of knowing exactly what the vet/trainer is doing (and again, I wouldn\'t either, I am not criticizing the guards here)
The testing stuff is what\'s key, the other stuff is just for show. Nothing wrong with them doing it, just that it really isn\'t a deterent if someone wants to do something to the horse because it\'s very easy to find a work around.
Aktabantay scratched.