NYRA to no longer accept entries from horses who ran <14 days ago

[Kitan]

Effective Jan 22, David Jacobson will be relocating his stock.

[Round Pen]

Hmmm the 14 day rule would have put Oscar out of business in his day, heck he would win 4 races in 14 days with same horse.

[Frost King]

And maybe that is how they have finally gotten rid of Jacobson, with these new rules.

[ScottJ]

If the bottom claiming level is upped from $10,000 for Open Claimers and $12,500 for Maiden Claimers, my understanding is that NYRA has estimated that this will cost them fields for at least three races per week which explains the shortening of the weekday race cards to eight races. As these levels only appear at Aqueduct's winter meet, my guess is that nine race cards will return with either the main track opening or surely at the Belmont meeting.

If Steve's view is correct that the 14-day rule is designed to prevent triple or quadruple runs during a fortnight, the rule really should be written that way. Since several horses have been running on a seven or ten day cycle and helping to fill cards, this will lead to shorter fields.

I do however like the idea of a vet's list for non-competitive runners although basing those nominations on losing distance seems wrong. As one reader has pointed out, what happens is you lose the Carter by 25 lengths? The idea of qualifying races, a more stringent version of mandatory gate works or workouts, might have finally found their place in thoroughbred racing.

Short of qualifiers, perhaps any horse that is eased in the final quarter mile of races 5.5 furlongs or less, final 3/16s of 6 furlongs, or final eighth at a mile or more should be placed on the vet's list. In other words, try to make it a combination of the jockey's interpretation of the horses competitive level and performance on the track.

[jnunan4759]

To me this is purely PR and will have little or no truly measurable result. Fatalities often happen seemingly in bunches, then average out over the long term. It's like a slot machine that hits a lot one day and then goes dead for a few days. Often it's just randomness.

To me this seems like an attempt to shift any responsibility to the trainers, vets and stewards.

[parsixfarms]

Originally Posted by ScottJ

If Steve's view is correct that the 14-day rule is designed to prevent triple or quadruple runs during a fortnight, the rule really should be written that way. Since several horses have been running on a seven or ten day cycle and helping to fill cards, this will lead to shorter fields.

In concept, I am not a fan of the 14-day rule. I would rather the racing office exercise its reasonable discretion to accept or reject entries. Having said that, based upon discussions with racing department officials about other rules, my sense is that they went with a bright-line rule on entry dates rather than having to be put in the position of having to explain why Horse A was allowed to run back in less than 14 days while Horse B was not allowed to run back in such a time frame.

I'm not sure that this rule will necessarily lead to shorter fields. It may make certain races harder to fill, but those races that do fill may end up with larger fields (as each condition tends to come up every three weeks in the condition book, and if you pass one book race, you may not run for six weeks).

[rgustafson]

It looks like we have the last three horses to beat the 14 day rule in today at Aqueduct.

[senator L]

I think this will cause more breakdowns as the trainer
will tell the jock make sure you don't lose by 25.
Many times you see the jock give up when the horse doesn't have it

[ScottJ]

Originally Posted by parsixfarms

I'm not sure that this rule will necessarily lead to shorter fields. It may make certain races harder to fill, but those races that do fill may end up with larger fields (as each condition tends to come up every three weeks in the condition book, and if you pass one book race, you may not run for six weeks).

52.

The very best thing that happened to NYRA today is that everyone involved in playing the horses was focused on Las Vegas.

There were only 52 horses today in nine races at NYRA. Two 3-horse fields, two 4-horse fields. Five races that might have been playable on the card. Andy Serling must have been tearing his remaining hair out today.

Back in 1986, Paul Moran was relegated to covering the opening at Suffolk Meadows in May in addition to his usual NYRA responsibilities. His column started with the observation that only 55 quarter-horses passed the entry box and proceeded to slaughter the re-opened track.

What would Paul think about the impact of today's 14-day rule and the fact that management at NYRA believes that the problem with breakdowns is in the difference between x > 14 and x >= 14?

[parsixfarms]

Originally Posted by ScottJ

There were only 52 horses today in nine races at NYRA. Two 3-horse fields, two 4-horse fields. Five races that might have been playable on the card. Andy Serling must have been tearing his remaining hair out today.

I agree that the "final" product that NYRA put out yesterday was embarrassing. That said, you do realize that many of the scratches on Sunday were the result of confusion on the application on the 14-day rule.

For all the bashing of Aqueduct, my impression is that the maiden, allowance and stakes racing so far at the meet has been pretty good. The upper level claiming races have also been competitive. The "problem area," if you will, has been the bottom-level claimers; that's where the vast majority of the break-downs have occurred. I don't understand why NYRA was unwilling to acknowledge this fact (rather, stating that there was no factor linking a majority of the breakdowns). Had the decision been mine, I would have raised the bottom claiming level to $20,000 and then do the best you can in terms of filling races (and this would be partially contrary to self-interest, as our partnership owns one horse that my proposed rule would likely result in us having to ship out of town to run). If you only run six or seven races a day, or cut back the number of race days per week, that's the price you have to pay in this political environment.

[freddymo]

Upstart is trained by Rick Violette and ridden by Jose Ortiz. He broke his maiden at Saratoga winning going away by 5 1/4 lengths. He then raced 9 days later and won the Funny Cide stakes for NY Breds. In that race Upstart stalked the favorite Bustin It and trailed his counterpart by 2 1/2 lengths at the top of the stretch before closing to the finish line for a one-length victory.

[reese]

Originally Posted by Kitan

Effective Jan 22, David Jacobson will be relocating his stock.

DING!DING!DING!