Penultimate Fence.... No longer. Now the final
 

Getting rid of the final fence might be the stupidest thing ever at Saratoga . Lets basically make it a 3/8 of a mile turf race. The last fence is the whole point . Who makes these calls ? Probably the same genius who put bushes or tv booths in everyone's good spots to sit at the track. What's next, no more red clam chowdah ?:zz:

Man up, don't be a coward... Use English and write a letter.

I used to know that guy, I think his name was Clem. He showed me these big pots he used to make that clam chowder in. He sold tons of it. Odd to me. People eating hot soup in the summer. Plus no clams within 150 miles of Saratoga. They were all canned. People loved it and still do. Go figure.

Although i dont know **** from shinola about the jumpers it is in fact the Internet so I will pipe in anyway. I have to agree here, it seems to change the entire sport. Id be interested on what the trainers are saying about this.

I know so little about jumpers that I don't even know what this thread is about without a link.

I am will to bet that penultimate does not mean what he thinks it may mean.

;) i get what he meant though.

If there is one fancy word that Byk has taught us , that everyone except you knows, is that penultimate means next to last. Larry Collmus picked up the term and used it well last year but Durkin wouldn't use it for fear of sounding too pedantic .

Now let's get back to losing headbobs and having 3 out of 4 , or 4 out of 5, or maybe 1st 2nd and 4th in a couple more triples at the spa

I can imagine that the change was instituted because last year at the meeting, with only nine jump races last year, there was an incident at the last fence, either falling or at least the horse lost the rider, in FIVE of the nine races, or over half. By comparison, there was only one fall at ALL the other fences combined. So yes it changes the way the race is run, and perhaps those numbers are an anomaly, but in this case you can make a strong argument for erring on the side of caution here.

I understand why they did it, but I don't like/agree with it. I'm guessing that NYRA and maybe the NSA doesn't want the public to see horses coming down in front of the grandstand.

I hate seeing horses fall, but jumping is the name of the game. If a horse can't jump at pace, then move it back to the flat.

I've seen thousands of jump races and nothing beats watching the athleticism, agility, and speed of two or more horses coming to the last battling it out. Many times, in a contested race, it's the horse that puts in the best jump ends up winning.

Removing the final fence in the stretch dilutes the quality and effect of the race.

:tro:

I know nothing about the jumpers but you echoed what my initial thoughts were. As Coach would say the continued Wussification of America.