California Drug Testing

[Dana666]

Anyone see the ad in the Form today? Jerry is quoted as saying California racing is the \"most drug free and formful\" and \"you have no idea how significant that is to bettors in deciding where to bet\". Never were truer words spoken. Maybe they have their act together which would be great. My only questions would be how many horses are tested? Every horse at every track or is it random? (You can\'t possibly convince me the testing is the same in Northern California where the super trainers seem to be alive and well). And where are these results posted? Of course, the past history of so many super trainers who won so many bogus races over the past 10 years or so and never got so much as a slap on the wrist is not likely to be discussed in the Form or TVG or anywhere else. I personally know more than a couple whales who only play California racing casually now, and they can\'t be the only ones. Will they come back? Who knows? Throw in the synthetic track debacle, short fields, cheap races, tracks closing or threatening to close, and all but the most optimistic fan would have to admit California racing is on life support at best. Hey,anything\'s possible, and I\'d be the first one cheering if it could ever be even close to what it was in it\'s glory days. I guess time will tell. It is interesting how so many so-called super trainers (I\'m sure we could all come up with former 30% trainers who are now 10% trainers) have had very average year in 2009! Anyway, I hope Jerry\'s right.

[jma11473]

It\'s pretty obvious that there have been some changes made in who is using (or no longer using) certain performance supplements. With that said, most people I talk to are so busy complaining about the synthetic tracks that they haven\'t noticed the improvements CA has made. Like you said, racing there (except for Del Mar) is on life support right now.

[girly]

Saratoga handle up 8% and on track attendance up 12% from last year-they are doing it right-and Wed. will switch to softer, safer whips for the horses like Kentucky.

[CentaurMythX]

Any opinions on jockeys or types of horses (pace-setters, closers, stalkers, etc) that will be impacted by this change to a \"sotfer, safer\" whip?  Girly, are you saying that this whip change will be effective this Wednesday, August 19?

[Lost Cause]

CentaurMythX Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Any opinions on jockeys or types of horses
> (pace-setters, closers, stalkers, etc) that will
> be impacted by this change to a \"sotfer, safer\"
> whip?  Girly, are you saying that this whip change
> will be effective this Wednesday, August 19?

Yes, Wednesday Aug 19th

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/52154/ny-jockeys-to-use-new-riding-crops

[girly]

I heard one jockey on the local news channel say that it does require a period of adjustment for horses who are used to the sting of the older whips, but they get used to it pretty quickly.