Pletcher going to California

[SentToStud]

Originally Posted by oracle80

Stud,
Thats not the real reason. I told you this past summer I had spoken to more than one trainer(Todd wasnt one of them) who was fed up with the purses and lack of allowances and msw's at Gulf. There are more who will announce it in the future.
But none of em are gonna come out and bash Gulf. 1) because they all train for or want the opportunity to train for Stronach. 2) Because they don't want their stall space reduced.

I follow. But why California? Why not Oaklawn or Fair Grounds?

[Nostradamus]

By 2010, every track in america will be poly. They just have to tweak it but it is safer and lets horses run more frequently. Pletcher is smart to go out there. He may hit $30M next year.

[Round Pen]

I must be reading this differently than some of you guys the only reason he is expanding to California is on account of the polytrack. More than likely it is to keep Michael Tabor happy too. He wants all of his horses training on it when ever possible.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by Round Pen

I must be reading this differently than some of you guys the only reason he is expanding to California is on account of the polytrack. More than likely it is to keep Michael Tabor happy too. He wants all of his horses training on it when ever possible.

I think you are right.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

I think you are right.

Then why do his KY horses train at Churchill Downs instead of Turfway? What do you think he going to say? "I have so many freaking maidens that I cant possibly run them all. Please dont send me anymore!" Business expand when they are growing and no business in racing is growing more than Todd Pletchers.

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Then why do his KY horses train at Churchill Downs instead of Turfway? What do you think he going to say? "I have so many freaking maidens that I cant possibly run them all. Please dont send me anymore!" Business expand when they are growing and no business in racing is growing more than Todd Pletchers.

Bingo. And I personally know two other guys considering a Cali division this winter because of disgust with Gulf's lack of purses and lack of maiden races and allowance races.
As one guy said "That place is HORRIBLE! Its the only place in the world where you get to a run a horse against Bandini for a 30 grand purse." That pretty much sums it up.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Then why do his KY horses train at Churchill Downs instead of Turfway? What do you think he going to say? "I have so many freaking maidens that I cant possibly run them all. Please dont send me anymore!" Business expand when they are growing and no business in racing is growing more than Todd Pletchers.

Of course that is part of it. He certainly needed a place to expand but he wasn't going to go somewhere where he thought his horses would all get hurt. I'm sure he would have brought horses out here sooner if he thought the tracks were safe out here. Now that we have safe track, he feels comfortable having a string of horses out here.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by Nostradamus

By 2010, every track in america will be poly. They just have to tweak it but it is safer and lets horses run more frequently. Pletcher is smart to go out there. He may hit $30M next year.

I don't know if every track will switch. There are some places where I don't think they need it. I think the tracks in New York are very good. I don't think they need it in New York.

It will be interesting to see how the fans and bettors embrace polytrack in California. Some people like Oracle say that a lot of big bettors say that they won't bet on California racing once polytrack is installed. If Oracle is right and the handle goes way down, I don't think that you will be seeing polytrack at too many other tracks. I don't know if Oracle is right or not. My guess is that the fans will be fine with it. It make take them a little while to get used to it but I think they will embrace it within a relatively short period of time. I could be wrong.

Originally Posted by SentToStud

I follow. But why California? Why not Oaklawn or Fair Grounds?

Guys the stakes schedule at SA is heavily loaded with grass stakes, that actually have decent purses.
Pletcher is known for his fast and early two year olds but if you really look at his stable these days hes amassed a slew of grass horses and he simply doesnt have the venue at Gulf to run them all.
The purses there are very good as well. The polytrack thing just sounds like an excuse to me as Santa Anita will not be conducting racing on polytrack.
Gulfstreams racing has been woeful, especially the last two years.
They have a few Saturdays with a bunch of stakes races but the weekday and even Sunday cards are just disastrous. Dominated by cheap claimers and maiden claimers.
Makes no sense to race everything there that has to go on grass.
He will have a full division at Aqueduct and a full division at Gulf and the group at SA, which I will bet will be heavily loaded with grass horses.