Slower doesn't mean safer

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

Certainly in theory and common belief....

And yet - if anything - the opposite proves true the more you observe it on paper.

I can come up with plenty of examples of horses that got hurt as a direct result of a hard, sealed track. Back in 2005, they sealed the track a day or two before Big Cap day. Both Declan's Moon and Rock Hard Ten got hurt that day.

I don't know if any of the horses you mentioned actually got hurt on the day you alluded to. I'm not saying they didn't. I'm saying we don't know one way or the other.

Anyway, a few examples and anecdotes don't really prove anything one way or another. There will still be injuries even on a really safe track. You'll just have less injuries.

Horses obviously need some cushion. If they didn't, the tracks wouldn't have to spend all this money. They could just pave the tracks and the horses could run on cement.