Santa Anita not racing Saturday?

[2Hot4TV]

Looks like Santa Anita will cancel todays card because of the all weather track needs a break from the rain it got last night.

http://www.santaanita.com/track/webcam.php

[theiman]

It was announced at the track at 7:45am PST that they are cancelling todays, Saturday's, card.

If the rain continues today, as it is forecasted too, I would assume both Sunday and Monday wont be run either.

[The Bid]

Mandated all weather. BRILLIANT

[Scav]

This is pretty classic.

Does them not racing cost the CHRB any money? I am guessing they are funded by the tracks or the state?

[2Hot4TV]

This is the track that will be hosting the Breeders Cup this year and I can tell you it can rain in late October and early November.

Everybody is blaming Cushion track for the materials used, but I bet Santa Anita wanted a faster track than Hollywood and pushed for something different.

[SCUDSBROTHER]

Anita can't handle the rain.I don't understand this.They have Frank's energy drink to fuel them to get the track under control.

http://www.franksenergy.com/about.html

After all, it's so unique right?

Key Ingredients
Taurine
Niacin (Vitamin B3)
Pantothenic Acid (Vitamin B5)
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine Hydrochloride)
Vitamin B12 (Cyanocobalamin)

[outofthebox]

Originally Posted by 2Hot4TV

This is the track that will be hosting the Breeders Cup this year and I can tell you it can rain in late October and early November.

Everybody is blaming Cushion track for the materials used, but I bet Santa Anita wanted a faster track than Hollywood and pushed for something different.

I agree 100%. TThe trainers and the jockeys also want it fast because most of them are accustomed to train and ride only one way. Speed, speed, speed.

[The Bid]

Stronarch should be able to sue someone for making him install that garbage at any of his tracks. Im sure he will when they tear them all out

The funniest part about Santa Anita is they were contacted prior to installation by someone who does roads, breathable paving, etc. At that time they were told IT WOULD NOT DRAIN properly unless they did it a certain way. Of course they disregarded that well respected professionals opinion, knowing full well the supertrack could handle water. Its not just the wax, they arent telling the story, its the base. They knew before they started and never gave it a second thought. Its a disgrace.

[2Hot4TV]

The more I think about the problems with Santa Anitas track, I will bet they cancel a few race days to build a case for suing Cushion Track when this all over and done with. I live local to the track and it can rain as much as 20 inchs or more in some years.

[outofthebox]

I haven't been on the Santa Anita track, but you knew they had to be in trouble when they said they were going to "seal" the all weather track. It's really a shame, because theres a good chance it's going to be a long wet winter.

[Riot]

Its not just the wax, they arent telling the story, its the base. They knew before they started and never gave it a second thought.

Bid, from day one all they've talked about is not the wax, but the too-fine sand (different from previous, working installations) clogging the base drainage, and apparently there isn't any problem with drainage through the base itself.

Where do you get the different story from?

[The Bid]

Its not the wax, the sand, or anything else. Its the base, and they laid the base wrong. I get that from the engineers who told them the track would never drain properly if installed this way. Directly from the source.

Horses are breaking down at alarming rates in Nor Cal, So Cal cant run when it rains, Woodbines track is a disaster, Keeneland is coming off the worst meet breakdown wise in the last 7 years. Why is it even still up for discussion whether these tracks are as advertised

[King Glorious]

I hope some of you heard the Roger Stein Show this morning here in Southern California. It was great. He had Robert Shapiro of the CHRB on there and he absolutely grilled him. He told him that they need to convene an emergency session of the board to get the racing shifted over from Santa Anita to Hollywood. One classic exchange was when Shapiro said that Santa Anita hasn't come to the board with any kind of request to move over to Hollywood and Stein said something like "they didn't come to the board with a request to have to install this stuff either but yet you made them anyway." Shapiro also said the board didn't make the decision for each individual track as to which company they had to go with when then installed the tracks to which Stein reminded him that the board didn't give them much time to do much studying first.

Stein said that all three surfaces down here suck and said that in his talking with his fellow horsemen, he hears far different than what is printed in the papers.

[The Bid]

They should just run the meet out on the concrete they would go slower and it would be safer for the horses. The surface in Nor Cal is yielding a breakdown or vanning on a daily basis

[sumitas]

How does one track's installation problem condemn all the all weather surfaces ?

[Riot]

Horses are breaking down at alarming rates in Nor Cal, So Cal cant run when it rains, Woodbines track is a disaster, Keeneland is coming off the worst meet breakdown wise in the last 7 years.

Cite your stats and sources, please?

I'm sure the press directly from the tracks is always going to have a positive slant, but nobody has written anything like what you say, above. And I know there are plenty of racing journalists out there that obviously don't care for synthetic surfaces, and would be happy to publish such info as the above. I haven't seen it anywhere.

[The Bid]

Sumitas

Thats where the problem starts you buffoon. The tracks themselves are ****, the installation and base is just an "oversight" by the people mandating the shitty surface.

[Riot]

Calling somebody a buffoon is a sure sign somebody's argument about a topic is strong

It will be interesting, when the mfg. replaces the track after this meet, if they redo the base, too.

This was in DRF yesterday:

Santa Anita | Posted 1/4/2008, 6:46 pm
Everyone's focus on track
By JAY PRIVMAN

ARCADIA, Calif. - The first wave of a series of storms expected to pummel Southern California this weekend hit Santa Anita with light showers about an hour before the first race Friday as track officials held their breath that Cushion Track, which covers the main track, would weather the storms.

The track was sealed following racing on Thursday, and even though the weather was dry Friday morning, the main track was closed for training, with all horses restricted to the infield training track.

"We sealed the racetrack the best we could," said Richard Tedesco, the track superintendent at Santa Anita. "It's still soft. You can still dig into it. We put the seal of all seals on it. It's best we could do."

Sealing is something that was done in advance of storms with Santa Anita's old dirt surface. Cushion Track was installed last summer, with one of its selling points being its ability to whisk water safely from the surface, leaving it dry no matter how inclement the weather.

But Santa Anita's version of Cushion Track has not drained properly, which has resulted in extensive work both before and during this meet, which began Dec. 26. This is uncharted territory for all involved, because no one knows whether a seal will work with Cushion Track, a mixture of sand, fibers, and bits of rubber, all coated with wax.

"No one's ever done this," jockey Mike Smith said during training hours. "Maybe horses will bounce over it like reindeer. On Dasher. On Dancer."

"It's like the Bonneville Salt Flats," added jockey Richard Migliore, who had just walked the surface at the top of the stretch. "They might as well run on this," he said, pointing to the concrete near Clocker's Corner.

Tedesco ran harrows over the track about 11 a.m., leaving a bit of fluff atop the seal.

Shortly before noon, about an hour before the first race, jockeys David Flores and then Aaron Gryder took turns galloping a pony down the home stretch. Then Flores, Gryder, Smith, and fellow jockeys Jon Court, Garrett Gomez, Martin Pedroza, and Alex Solis, along with Jockeys' Guild representative Darrell Haire, met near the finish line with Tedesco, Santa Anita president Ron Charles, and Mike Harlow, Santa Anita's director of racing.

The jockeys said they believed racing would be fine on Friday provided the rain largely held off, but they were concerned about upcoming days.

Early Friday morning, Santa Anita took the first race, scheduled for the downhill turf course, off the grass and moved it to the main track to avoid having the horses cross the main track while moving from the hillside to the infield portion of the turf course.

The first race, run at 6 1/2 furlongs for second-level allowance horses, resulted in a track record over the souped-up surface when Tropic Storm, under Gryder, led from start to finish in 1:13.69. He set fractions of 22.29 seconds, 44.34 seconds, and 1:07.61.

Horsemen giving management a pass

The ongoing drainage problem with Santa Anita's main track has not caused a rift between Santa Anita management and locally based trainers, who by and large have praised Santa Anita for trying to resolve a problem trainers believe was caused by Cushion Track Footings, the manufacturer of the surface.

"I hope for Ron Charles's sake they can fix it, because this could not happen to a nicer guy," said Jenine Sahadi, a two-time Breeders' Cup winner. "He's doing everything possible, trying to get a safe track. It's distressing that he put in all this time and energy, and this is the hand he was dealt."

Earlier in the week, Cushion Track Footings said it would install a new surface at Santa Anita at the end of the meet if the drainage problem is not solved.

Mike Machowsky said the California Horse Racing Board, which mandated the switch to synthetic surfaces in 2006, and board chairman Richard Shapiro "need to step up and take responsibility."

"They mandated this, and it cost a lot of money," Machowsky said. "I feel sorry for Ron Charles and the racing office."

Despite the problems with drainage, trainers said the surface has been excellent for training.

"It's a little fast, but it's been real good to the horses," Dan Hendricks said.

[The Bid]

Im not calling you a buffoon Im speaking to Sumitas.

You think its a normal practice to seal an all weather track?

Mig says the track is hard as a rock, and the super says its soft, make sense?

To be honest with you I dont care whats said in the DRF or any other publication. Some reporter just did a piece on Equidaily praising GG on their breakdown rate. The week before they had a bunch go down, over 10 eased and vanned. The day after they had one go down in the stretch. BTW that was 5 catastrophic breakdowns 12 eased and 7 vanned over a 6 day period. Just because its reported doesnt mean its the truth. You are hearing what they want you to hear not what is actually going on. How long are people going to believe these tracks are as advertised? Catastrophic breakdowns went up at Keeneland, will be up at GG, Woodbines track is a disaster, and Southern California cancelled Sat and Sun cards. If thats not enough to make you scratch your head a little bit and question what you are hearing then you must be making a commission on the stuff.