Finally, I'm glad to see some people that understand that California racing is in it's dying days. I've said on another forum that Polytrack will be the end of it as we know it. One of the unique things about California racing was that we have a style and pace that's distinctly California. Now all of the soft-hearted folks have taken over and their crying has got them to move to this Polytrack stuff. I understand that it's never a good thing to have horses breaking down and for the owners it's really got to be a blow. But that's part of the package that u know u are going to have to deal with when u set up shop here. If u don't like it, move your operations to Keeneland or Turfway. I believe that u have to train hard and race hard here in order to be successful and when u do that, there will be more injuries. Maybe since I'm not an owner or as emotionally invested in these animals as some others are, I don't share the same sentiments. I don't mean to hurt anyone's feelings but this is just how I feel. I feel that they are moving to homogenize the product here and I am not happy about it at all.
As for Lava Man, I really think he's a good horse. But I don't even know how good because the product here is so watered down, we can't see him face good competition. I mean, Ace Blue and Good Reward have been the runners-up in his last two. We got all excited about Perfect Drift coming out here but as much as I admire their sportsmanship in their scheduling and as much as I've come to appreciate that the horse gives his all everytime, the fact is still that he's won ONE grade one race in 40 starts and six seasons of racing. So beating him in a grade one race is really not that big a deal. Someone tried to tell me that I should have been excited over Lava Man's win in the Pacific Classic. Why? If he's anything at all, wasn't he supposed do to that? Would u get excited watching Roger Clemens strike out Class A level hitters game after game? If it wasn't for Lava Man, the state of the game in California right now would be embarrassing. Actually, even with him, it still is.
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