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#1
11-13-2007, 03:25 PM
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It's interesting to click on Sporting Life and see 5 pieces on his retirement... http://www.sportinglife.com/racing/news/ When I was new to racing, when Smarty and Rock Hard Ten and Tapit were pracitcally the only names i knew, I remember reading that Tapit was slightly injured. I remembered seeing this guy - I didn't have a clue who he was - poking his finger in the ground. It didn't phase me... I was new and thought well maybe they all do this before races. When you have no point of reference nothing seems too surprising. Anyway, I googled Tapeta cause I had heard about it and wrote a quick email saying sorry he was hurt and that i hoped he'd be okay cause he was a lot of fun to watch. He was too... the way he'd look off into the stands.  I didn't expect to hear back... why would I? I just wanted to let him know his horse was thought of. He wrote back immediately, thanked me for my interest and asked me a few questions... I was surprised. I answered, asked him some stuff, and he wrote back again asking for my address. He sent me a package with signed Da Hoss win pictures, some programs, other stuff and a really sweet letter. He emailed a few more times, telling me about a 2YO he had named Bellamy Road..... stuff like that. I'm not trying to to say anything other than he seemed like a really nice guy... kind-hearted and decent. He talked about his horses like they were his children and to a complete stranger, and I kinda wondered, in time, if they didn't seem to race that much because he babied them or feared for them. I know it sounds stupid. If nothing else I respect him for trying to change something he saw a problem with. Actions vs words... right? Again, I'm not qualified to give an opinion on Tapeta or any synthetic surface. I'm just a fan, he was very kind, and I wish him well.  http://www.tapeta.com/ Last edited by my miss storm cat : 11-13-2007 at 03:38 PM. 
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#2
11-13-2007, 03:36 PM
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__________________
http://www.facebook.com/cajungator26
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#3
11-13-2007, 03:54 PM
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Wonderful story. I happen to believe the man when he says he wants to do what is best for the horse. And if he can make money from his improved Tapeta surface , that is well and good. I like that he jogs barefoot on aw surfaces to help him determine the cushion.
A week before the Breeders Cup Keeneland was deluged by 4 inches of rain overnight. The next day the polytrack looked as though it had never rained. Follow that up by the dirt at Monmouth and one can see the consistency and fairness of the all weather. 2 year old Sonoran Desert won last week for Sanders. Bring on Tapeta to NY.
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#4
11-13-2007, 04:01 PM
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__________________
http://www.facebook.com/cajungator26
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#6
11-13-2007, 03:55 PM
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This guy is probably making millions. Training horses is no easy job and doesn't pay that well unless you are one of the big guys. He obviously was never going to make millions training like a Pletcher, so it was a smart move.
What I really like about the guy is he is a true horseman. He could easily have pulled a Pletcher and just had assistants do everything.
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#7
11-13-2007, 04:46 PM
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__________________
"Have the clean racing people run any ads explaining that giving a horse a Starbucks and a chocolate poppyseed muffin for breakfast would likely result in a ten year suspension for the trainer?" - Dr. Andrew Roberts
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#8
11-13-2007, 04:56 PM
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Talking to Dickinson on the phone was the single most miserable thing I endured in my days as a racing reporter.
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#10
11-13-2007, 05:17 PM
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I had the audacity to ask him questions about what kind of an impact his surface might have on bettors - if he expected one-dimensional speed horses might struggle to reproduce their dirt form - or if turf horses who've struggled on dirt in the past might not struggle on his form of synthetic. Stuff like that. In a hilarious British accent he starts screaming "You're asking the wrong questions!" "This is ENTIRELY about safety!" "everything else is minor!" He's bananas on the telephone. In person he was quite the opposite - and decent to talk to.
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#12
11-13-2007, 05:28 PM
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I never forget the time when Dickinson hired a private investigator to follow H. James Bond shipping horses from I think Payson Park to Gulfstream Park for Breeders Cup in 1999, because he thought Bond was up to no good.
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#13
11-13-2007, 05:34 PM
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When the favorite Cantrel fatally broke down in the first race ever run over a Tapeta surface - Dickinson actually pointed out later that night that the horse "had been training on dirt and not a synthetic" - and "if she had been training on a synthetic you don't know if this would have happened." He's not exactly a man of straight talk - that's for sure.
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#14
11-13-2007, 05:48 PM
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worse is seeing all his babies.....
__________________
 Seek respect, not attention.
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#15
11-13-2007, 05:23 PM
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Dickinson was and probably still is a great trainer. Not many others could do what he did in England, and the main way he did that was by caring for his horses and giving the best treatment possible for them.
His interest in breating a new surface was first and foremost in the interests of the horses welfare, he was one of the first to see that dirt was on a downfall and couldn't be around forever. Sure, he will have made money from it, but why would a man like himself be bothered about making all this money when he is already a very rich man? Maybe the surface hasn't turned out to be as good expected, but there is always time. Like mmsc has said, he is a very nice and generous man. An individual who is inlove with the sport but realises that there is more in life than to be training horses. He has already achieved more than any other trainer can do in a life time. I respect him greatly and i offer him all the best for the future. The people who are saying jump racing is cruel...... you obviously know very little about it to have that opinion. That is all i can and will say on that matter.
__________________
Avatar ~ Nicky Whelan  and now we murderers because we kill time
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#16
11-13-2007, 05:28 PM
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It's the breed that is going downhill. Synthetic surfaces are a bandaid to a sport that is bleeding profusely. Quote:
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#17
11-13-2007, 05:45 PM
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#18
11-20-2007, 07:10 PM
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Making a person who is profiting greatly from synthetic surfaces, as Michael Dickinson is, out to be some kind of saint is beyond ridiculous. It's almost as ridiculous as asserting that dirt has been the cause of injuries in racing, while ignoring the vast array of other reasons, and further suggesting that unproven synthetic surfaces will save horses.
Thank God every racetrack isn't buying this load of bunk.
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#19
11-13-2007, 09:47 PM
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Great news!! with his disappearance I'll add FLEET RENEE to horse watch
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