No prying eyes at a private training center

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

The day is coming where more of the top horses are trained away from the tracks over which they run. As that has been accepted, more trainers will move to private training centers that allow them unlimited stall space, freedom to race whereever and whenever they desire without the racetrack putting any pressure on, and being free of any security measures that are taken at the track. It is also can be an anti-suspension device as the authorities can prevent you from training at racetracks but they can not keep you from training at private property though the horses would have to run in someone elses name. Pletcher has most of his best horses at Palm Beach Downs which is a private training center, Dale Romans just bought a place in KY, Nafzger and Ian Wilkes train a lot of their horses off track as does Niall O'Callaghan and many of the guys at Fair Hill like Matz, Klesaris and Shuman. Now I suppose that owning a barn at a place like Fair Hill is different than owning your own land but either way the tracks have lost control over their horse populations and as this trend continues, it will only get worse.

Wasn't Patrick stabled in a private place in Saratoga for many, if not all, the years he was there? Didn't he use the Payson barns.....or is that considered part of the Oklahoma?

The point about racetracks losing control is an interesting one. But, let's face it, they've already lost control, pretty much, at least with Pletcher. He's pretty much used NYRA barns, be it Belmont or the Oklahoma from April through October, as his headquarters to ship wherever he wants. I guess he can do whatever's best for his owners and one could say it's NYRA's responsibility to control that. IMO they haven't protected their interests as well as they could, or should, have. But, I'm sure there's more to the story.

On a tangent, seems to me we're seeing a real fallout at Gulfstream from the lack of talent, or even runners, in Todd's current 3YOs. Considering the vast number of horses he got, and the dearth of actual runners, 3YO races have been very thin, and not even filling ( which is incredible for Gulfstream ). It's a scary glimpse into what can happen when one person gets a lions share of the potential runners.....and for whatever reasons they can't, and don't, run.