How come so many California trainers want a return to dirt if there was such carnage in the past?

Hell if I know ......uhm they dont care would be my first guess, but its just a guess.

That's quite a condemnation of the California training community.

I was there!! And it was a freakish period for about 6 months back in '05-'06 Does that mean there should have been sweeping legislation across the state? Which was really BS because they left Fairplex, Los Al, and the other fairs alone. They never addressed the base at SA. It needs to be totally ripped out. That place is a ticking time bomb. The better trainers are scared schit everytime they put a decent horse on it. It's not that easy to pick up and move a whole operation to another part of the country, especially if you've been there for years. There's employees, uprooting of family, mortgages, etc. And it's not like there's anywhere to go that's geographically close. Say what you want about Hollywood....That surface has been pretty darn good. Problem there is that the future is on a "meet by meet" basis. Del Mar might as well be Turfway (no offense to those in Florence). But what once was, and now is......

Look, I'm pretty sure that you're an excercise rider. I appreciate your work because it's an integral part of the entire product. You guys keep the animals fit and I'm certain at times it goes unrecognized. But there is a level of frustration that is approaching a point of no return. Frank might have put the final nail in today.

State of racing in CA. is very sad.

Freakish ??? Are you kidding me ? I came here in 1998 from very cheap racetracks with very cheap horses , truly never saw the amount of horses breaking their legs off as I did here except at Waterford Park back before it was Mountaineer . It wasnt just Santa Anita , it was all the major southern Cali tracks , Del Mar was the worst for whatever reason but still I never heard any compliments about the racing surfaces here. No one ever said "dang those tracks in Cali are kind to horses" " boy they have a nice soft surface out there" , no what you heard was "those tracks are hard and fast " those tracks are like the 405 freeway"
Trainers want to blame the sythetics on owners leaving the game , but they have a hard time admitting to the fact that owners are leaving the game because it costs to much money and that they have no interest in the infighting among the horseman . For most owners horse racing was something to be enjoyed , hard to enjoy it when you have everyone bitching and complaining and believe me they can and do find cheaper ways to enjoy themselves.

Thanks for your perspective Honu and your grasp of history out there in Cali.

Headley reminds me of that guy from the movie Grumpy Old Men.

Doesn't he realize that synthetic tracks save horse legs from breaking by the millions!

I am REALLY hoping it rains on March 12-13.

WTF is Santa Anita going to do if they have cancel Zenyatta's comebacker?

The domino effect will be something to watch.

I think trainers are hopeful that a quality, brand new dirt track would be safe.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2...s-fuel-debate/

California horse racing reported more racehorse deaths over the previous two years, 645, than any other reported two-year period, according to data released yesterday in the annual report by the California Horse Racing Board.

Deb,

Not that I'm a defender of the synthetic by any means, but as Bill Finley pointed out in an ESPN piece last week, those figures also included some rather unfortunate and gaudy fatality figs from Los Alamitos. The use of breakdown figures in this debate is always going to be superfluous and inconclusive. The numbers are going to vary up and down, high and wide on any and all surfaces because of the capricious nature of injuries in general.

The synthetic doesn't work as constituted by this generation of man-made surfaces because they have failed to live up to their advertised features and benefits overall. They aren't maintenance free as advertised. They aren't any appreciably safer than a well maintained organic dirt surface as advertised. They have turned off a significant group of the horse-playing public. There has been no benefit to their installation other than to make money for those that got behind it. And for all the adulation Keeneland receives from its' dew-eyed worshipers, I'm curious how they've escaped criticism for their hand in the synthetic surface 'putover'.

Hope is not a very good business plan.

My guess is that Frank is positioning himself to cash in on the land that the track sits on.

Looks like Frank sells in 5 years and retires to his breeding and racing stable on a small scale.

they ran out of excuses why the horses they train dont run fast.they need dirt.

ah, i didn't see the finley piece. but you'd expect that with the largest tracks having synthetics, there would be a decrease even with the fairs included-unless of course those numbers weren't used in the past. at any rate, it certainly hasn't lived up to its billing.
as for the track surface being changed, it appears stronach is trying to use the surface as a bargaining tool. perhaps it'll end up being changed after all. but i'm not holding my breath.

why not, it's such a success in politics!! :D

There's that old saying:

If it's not broke, then don't fix it.

But the corollary is also true:

IF IT'S BROKE, FIX THE F**KING THING!

It's broke, Frank.

(Yeah, I know...so is he).

did they ever think of fixing the dirt surface? softer base, deeper cushion? instead, its a man-made piece of garbage! he says people don't even want to race on it. to me, that says it all! yes, horses were dying but this was not the answer. people are more leary of this track then the dirt one! wow, horses galloped over the weekend, after what, losing millions in missed dates? he says those tracks have costed 24 million, i believe. in reality its closer to 50 million due to lost racing dates and lack of participation by horsemen. who really knows, like he said, its not a free market when you change the rules(with mandates)! like someone else said, fix it, means fix it. this definetly did not "FIX" anything! its the basic rule of thumb with folks these days. it happens at all levels with every problem that comes up. people panic and over re-act, its why we are in stupid wars, going bankrupt and having these stupid tracks that people don't want (because they don't work!). everytime something happens, "its the end of the world, the hype is telling me so!" instead of simple solutions, its simple people panicking and making things worse!

You actually think Stronach needs the potential revenue from the sale of Santa Anita to 'retire'?