i just thought the way tapit ran down the home stretch in the wood was one of the funniest things i've ever seen.

That was Soto I thought, not Tapit.

I laughed.

To compare an excellent horse like Bellamy Road to a complete fluke like SM is crazy. Bellamy Road actually ran very well in the Derby.

You're right - I tend to get my Dickinson trained 3yo "stars" who have six race careers mixed up a lot!

That was a major disservice to Soto - who won five of his six career starts - as opposed to Tapit who was 3-for-6 and much less horse to boot.

bellamy road had excellent races both before and after the wood, it's not as tho he was a one hit wonder.

repeat of above...

i don't like it when tapit is on the back page of my bloodhorse. but it is somewhat amusing.

for some reason i though bellamy road was trained by zito?

He was until the end of his career. There was a switch, and the horse never races for the new ridiculous trainer.

didn't they give him to sexton...and then i think sexton left steinbrenner. ridiculous taking him from nick in the first place.

He was trained by Dickinson first..... :)

Concerning the dangers of jumping horses:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/servi...,3218960.story

How sad. :(

Making a person who is profiting greatly from synthetic surfaces, as Michael Dickinson is, out to be some kind of saint is beyond ridiculous. It's almost as ridiculous as asserting that dirt has been the cause of injuries in racing, while ignoring the vast array of other reasons, and further suggesting that unproven synthetic surfaces will save horses.

Thank God every racetrack isn't buying this load of bunk.

This whole synthetic racing surface argument reminds me of the 70's when Major League Baseball franchises couldn't switch to "astro-turf" fast enough. Grass was out. "Turf" was the future. Less expensive to maintain, better footing when wet for the players, no double headers needed to make up rain-outs and no more "bad hops". After nearly everyone had swithced to turf, suddenly there were problems no one had forseen. Players blowing out knees, turf toe, turf burns and excessive field temps. during July and August day games. Funny how it has come full circle and nearly all teams have went back to grass fields. What's the old saying about the grass is always.........Hell, I always loved double headers at old Crosley Field anyway.

Maybe they should install tapeta on baseball fields instead of the dirt.
Giants Stadium has artificial turf plugged in throughout. http://www.giants.com/news/eisen/story.asp?story_id=245
Would that improve a turf surface for racing ?
http://www.fieldturf.com/
Then NYSEG Stadium in Binghamton NY has a NY product. Artificial blades woven throughout the natural grasses.
http://www.clarkcompanies.com/PDF%20...%20Inser...pdf

I'd like to see NY have an aw surface and state of the art turf course also.

Aq should have the inner safe aw. And Belmont should have their inner turf a safe state of the art artificial/natural blend turf of some sort. How exciting would that make the racing in NY ?

You can go to PubMed, and enter as search terms thoroughbred and then alternately track, fracture, catastrophic, etc. going back to the early 1990's, to see the science behind why synthetic surfaces have been developed.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez

Here's something from 1995:
Am J Vet Res. 2005 Apr;66(4):589-95.Links
Relationships between hoof-acceleration patterns of galloping horses and dynamic properties of the track.Ratzlaff MH, Wilson PD, Hutton DV, Slinker BK.Department of Veterinary and Comparative Anatomy, Pharmacology, and Physiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA.

OBJECTIVE: To define relationships between hoof-acceleration patterns of galloping horses and dynamic properties of the track. ANIMALS: 8 Thoroughbred horses without lameness. PROCEDURE: Acceleration-time curves were recorded by use of accelerometers attached to each hoof as each horse galloped over the track straightaway. Four sessions were conducted for each horse, with the track surface modified by sequentially adding water before each session. These acceleration-time curves were analyzed to determine peak accelerations during the support phase of the stride. Track dynamic properties (hardness, rebound, deceleration rate, rebound rate, and penetration) were recorded with a track-testing device. Moisture content and dry density were measured from soil samples. Stepwise multiple regression was used to identify relationships between hoof-acceleration variables and track dynamic properties. RESULTS: Track rebound rate was most consistently related to hoof variables, especially through an inverse relationship with negative acceleration peaks for all hooves. Also, rebound rate was related to initial acceleration peak during propulsion of the hooves of the forelimb and the nonlead hind limb as well as to the second acceleration peak during propulsion of the lead hooves of the hind limb and nonlead forelimb. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The inverse relationship between track rebound rate and negative acceleration peaks for all hooves reflects the most important dynamic property of a track. Any factor that reduces negative acceleration of the hooves will increase stride efficiency by allowing smoother transition from retardation to propulsion and therefore may be important in determining the safety of racing surfaces.

No disrespect, but I'm not really interested in a study from 1995. I'll wait and see how the real life racing plays out. So far, while I find it disasterous as do some enormous players I know, the results seem mixed at best.

Well, believe it or not, synthetic surfaces were not just pulled out of someone's butt (no comments :p ) in order to make money - there is sound reasoning behind them.

You're not anticipating having much fun at next years Breeders' Cup, I imagine ;)

Edit: and you are right, "real life" will be the ultimate test.