Quote:
Originally Posted by cmorioles
Right, so why the question if it isn't physical. Ten days isn't a punishment. I understand there aren't many horses these days, but if you don't punish those that abuse this, it will never get better. Tracks would be way better off cutting racing days than running these anemic fields. Of course, horsemen will fight this tooth and nail because they like short fields no matter how bad they are long term.
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I think that you have to look at this issue differently depending on the level of track and area of the country.
I dont believe that lower level tracks have issues with scratches.
At the higher levels on the East coast the punishment for horseman is to run in too many races where they are up against it. As long as owners use win percentage as the single most important factor in selecting a trainer you wont find a "punishment" long enough for some guys. Rather than cutting racing days which on its own won't work, the racing programs offered need to revert away from offering so many choices, especially for the lower level horses. What horseman have is too many choices. Do we really need 15000 nw3 short and long on the dirt and short and long on the turf? Are there really enough horses to support 4 divisions of each class level?
Plus punishing horsemen for making prudent and sometimes tough decisions concerning the physical condition of their horses will lead to more abuse of the horses themselves which isnt what we need to be doing. What about off the turf scratches? Every issue can't be solved with tougher legislation.
And virtually every scratch is for a physical ailment or surface change even if they arent. If you call the stewards and tell them the field is too tough you wont get out of a race.