Stronach reneges on SA surface change..
 

Stronach: No surface change
By Brad Free

http://www.drf.com/news/article/111144.html

ARCADIA, Calif. - In a reversal of a January announcement that the Pro-Ride surface would be replaced at the conclusion of the winter meet, Santa Anita will keep the surface in place for the time being, Frank Stronach, the chairman of the two companies that control the track, said on Sunday.

Stronach said that to replace the main track under current conditions would be "throwing money down in an open pit" unless he were allowed to run the track with less regulation from the state. Under current business conditions, Stronach said, he is not willing to approve a track surface project estimated to cost $8 million to $10 million.

"I'm not going to put money in, if I see the whole structure does not work," Stronach said.

I don't blame him. 6 horse fields till the cows come home.

Wouldn't "throwing money down in an open pit" be business as usual for Magna?

I think you can only declare bankruptcy once every 3 years so just wait a bit.

So .... I guess they're just going to cancel everytime it rains?

I think people are starting to forget that Santa Anita's winter meet always was without a doubt the place that showcases the best racing in the winter.

I prefer Tampa these days.

wonder how much one cancellation costs them? someone had to have crunched the numbers, and realized the rare rainy day doesn't cost as much as a surface change. too bad

If I had one of the best 3 yearolds I'd ship them out of there as fast as I could. How can you train and prep in those conditions? Welcome to Oaklawn Bob Baffert will you be staying here long?

They've had to cancel multiple Saturday cards! - that's beyond crazy.

They had 6 cards that were cancelled in 74 years of dirt racing.

Two of the six were cancelled on back to back weekdays because they had 17 straight off tracks and they didn't want to fill races with all 5, 6, and 7 horse fields.

Two more of the six were were cancelled on back to back weekdays when all the top stories in the LA Times were about floods causing major havoc.

The other two cancelled days were in the 1950's. Probably both on weekdays as well.

i know, but the guy finally speaks out. he should of fought those tracks from day 1. he hates them and half the owners won't come out there. why didn't he object years ago. that law was the dumbest thing ever up until the aqueduct slot machine debacle. if horse racing can't shoot itself these states are always willing to lend a hand.....lol

I kind of agree, the CHRB mandated the synthetic surface with a shoot first ask questions later mentality. Now the track is a disaster and the state (not like they have any extra money to help out) is nowhere to be found. It's very unfair situation for the racing community out there. Plus if they went back to dirt, what's from stopping the CHRB from doing the same thing all over again and mandating some other kind of synthetic surface say 7-8 years down the road?

Steve why would he replace a surface that he changed against his will for millions? Let us be fair, they had dirt, the state made him change the surface to a unproven rubber, now they tell him changit at your expense? HUH? have a heart what is next change it back to Tapeta?

I think they should just raise takeout...temporarily of course to deal with this crisis. Isn't that how all bad legislation is bailed out?

Yet they should raise it on everyone because that is the most fair thing to do and its best for the collective good.

Seriously? The fans shouldn't be punished for something they had no control over

I'm no Civil Engineer, but it sounds like they need a sub-surface change first.


Definition: Drainage - Removal of liquid from an area by either natural or artificial means, such as by gravity or pumping.



Maybe they should hire an expert :D :


http://www.intota.com/rfp/rfp.asp?perID=724737

The surface drains , just slowly , by Sunday morning it was back to normal and horses were galloping and working on it .

They should just have the meet at Del Mar in the winter until Frank gets his act together and his medication kicks in.

That means Dick!! It's pathetic! And even more so given the mid week cards. It's over for that place in the winter.

Maybe they should race on the beach, but only at low tide.

Whatever dude , if it was dirt we still wouldnt be training on it , but we would have that sealed racetrack to look forward to running on . Everyone seems to forget why they put the the surface in in the first place , its because horses were dying at an alarming rate. Were you here when the freaking horse ambulance was hauling horses off more than once a week to be put down? No you werent and you didnt see horses legs just hanging on by skin and you didnt see riders going down and being lucky to just break a bone. So yeah it isnt perfect or maybe not even close but it is better than what we had , its better than horses dying every week and that is just in the mornings.

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'?