scratch rules in kentucky

[Cannon Shell]

As for the claiming rule. they could have eliminated the open claiming rule and forced out of state owners to run a horse at the meet in order to claim. That would greatly reduce the number of outside horses being claimed at a short meet like Keeneland where it is tougher to get in a race in order to get eligible to claim. What they have done is fail to recoginze the uniqueness of KY's racing setup and serve to hamper the efforts of midwestern horsemen who race on the FairGrounds/Churchill/Keeneland/Arlington curcuit. You would have assumed that Churchill would have seen that doing this will hurt the racing at Arlington and Fair Grounds as horses claimed at Churchill in the spring meet and fall meet will be out of action at their other tracks for a month. This will especially hurt Fair Grounds during December when many owners look to claim at Churchill to run down there for the winter. Many of those owners will either look elsewhere to claim which hurts the bottom line of the state which cant collect the 6% on claims since they will be down dramatically. And it hurts the smaller claiming owner who loses a lot of flexability with a claimed horse. Forcing a guy to run a horse claimed at Churchill at Ellis or Turfway especially a non KY bred is wrong minded.

[deltagulf]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

As for the claiming rule. they could have eliminated the open claiming rule and forced out of state owners to run a horse at the meet in order to claim. That would greatly reduce the number of outside horses being claimed at a short meet like Keeneland where it is tougher to get in a race in order to get eligible to claim. What they have done is fail to recoginze the uniqueness of KY's racing setup and serve to hamper the efforts of midwestern horsemen who race on the FairGrounds/Churchill/Keeneland/Arlington curcuit. You would have assumed that Churchill would have seen that doing this will hurt the racing at Arlington and Fair Grounds as horses claimed at Churchill in the spring meet and fall meet will be out of action at their other tracks for a month. This will especially hurt Fair Grounds during December when many owners look to claim at Churchill to run down there for the winter. Many of those owners will either look elsewhere to claim which hurts the bottom line of the state which cant collect the 6% on claims since they will be down dramatically. And it hurts the smaller claiming owner who loses a lot of flexability with a claimed horse. Forcing a guy to run a horse claimed at Churchill at Ellis or Turfway especially a non KY bred is wrong minded.

so what they are trying to do is not the answer for bigger fields?

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by deltagulf

so what they are trying to do is not the answer for bigger fields?

Keenland and Arlington dont seem to have any problems with field size? The issue is a complex one that has many facets. Tracks cry about field size but they continue to have 11 race cards. They continue to not work with other tracks in their region to try to keep from having similar races written on the same days. They try to intimidate horsemen into running. They pass rules that will probably decrease field size.

[citycat]

Where they are missing the boat is when you have an owner who is not even licensed in the state they are running gets a local trainer to claim the horse then ship it out to them later. The local trainer usually gets some kind of cut on the deal. I would like to see this practice stopped. If you want to claim a horse have the guts and brains to get licensed in the state and have the claim dropped in your name.

[citycat]

As far as the proposed new scratch rule I do not think it will solve the problem. I am not sure what the answer is to it either. Locally the vast majority of trainers scratch only when the horse has a problem. We all know who the problem guy is here (Moquett). He is constantly entering two horses in the same race (probably to get the race to go) then scratches one out after it goes. His other little trick is that he enters the same horse at two tracks like CD and Mountaineer. After the fields are set he assess his horses chances and then scratches out of the tougher field. True he is playing within the rules but it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Like I said I dont have the answer but what this guy does rubs most of the other trainers the wrong way. Maybe they should look at the vets who are giving the scratches? Are they actually going over and seeing the horse or are they just blindly writing up vet scratches?

[jpops757]

Im just a fan . Not an owner or trainer. The problem with all the if,ands or buts, is you get the attorneys and some type of govt agency involved and we know this isnt good. I think Chuck offered a simple solution . Cut back on the number of races,increase the purses,develope some sort of curcits to eliminate regoinal compition and utilize regional coperation.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by jpops757

Im just a fan . Not an owner or trainer. The problem with all the if,ands or buts, is you get the attorneys and some type of govt agency involved and we know this isnt good. I think Chuck offered a simple solution . Cut back on the number of races,increase the purses,develope some sort of curcits to eliminate regoinal compition and utilize regional coperation.

Another idea with regard to the claiming rules is to tie the number a claims an owner can make to the number of starts they have. At the short meets it will be hard for a guy to make too many starts and the number of claims will be limited. So if you start a horse you can claim a horse. After you make 2 starts you can claim 2 horses. And so on. Because there are so many short meets it will limit the number of people that will be eligible to claim more than one horse.