Quote:
Originally Posted by cmorioles
All of those things would be great. However, none of them are going to do much good until horses are able to race more often. Field size is the number one factor that drives betting. I'm not suggesting banning Lasix is going to do that either, but that is the number one problem that needs to be addressed. Why can't horses run often like they did in the past?
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Everyone loves to use the av starts per year stat but they fail to recognize 2 things that negatively effect that number. The fact that 2 year olds are included skews the numbers simply because nowdays virtually every 2 year old that runs will drag the number down. The 2nd is nowdays trainers are judged almost exclusively by win percentage. Giving a horse a prep race is hardly acceptable any longer. Even guys like Zito who would seem to be secure in their place have adjusted the way they train high dollar babies because the owners look at a loss as a huge negative even if the experience is beneficial for the horse. A guy like Whittingham would be scorned now as too old fashioned because he almost always gave his first timers a race or two. Even at the lower level tracks trainers are selected by win percentage. You solve that and trainers will be filling the box because for the most part we make money by running but if we have a barn full of empty stalls, well you know...
05-14-2012, 04:35 PM
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