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Originally Posted by Cannon Shell
I dont know if they will come because they dont like
1. Weather - too hot
2. Cali - too far
3. Turns too tight
4. Turf too hard (though this year it was too soft! go figure euros complaining about soft turf)
5. Money exchange is bad
6. Too many drugs
7. wrong kind of synthetic track
8. no free plane rides
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I think we will send a number of horses to Santa Anita. Some will be put off because of the heat and the distance, but overall we have had quite a good record there in recent years, i believe.
Extremes of turf conditions is always a problem. The only horses that didn't want a soft surface this year was Dylan Thomas. Unlike most european turf horses, the turf cannot be firm enough for him. As Aidan commented, he needs it like "concrete".
Exchange rate will hopefully be better than it is right now. Why is the dollar so weak at the moment???? We are getting a dollar for around 30 pence right now. I have never seen it so weak for so many months.
Our racing country is far too kind by giving free transport for overseas horses to our big meets, having said that they do it in Dubai, too.
One option i have heard for the Breeders Cup "world championships" is to split it into two. Have the turf races in europe or even asia, and the dirt races in America. I think then it really could be called a "world championship" event.
Although the surface doesn't seem to have any direct link with the George Washington injury, vets have said that it isn't impossible that it did cause some ill-effects. I didn't realise that when a dirt track gets so sloppy, the horses are basically running on the hard base, which could have led to the fracture becoming an open fracture with the added concussion going through the leg.