Editorial: Super-sized outfits hurting the sport

[Southieboy]

http://www.drf.com/news/letters-editor-feb-1-2013

[Roys]

I sure believe this to be true. When you have - hypothetically - 500 stalls to be allocated, and you get stall applications submitted by a couple of trainers with 150 horses who say they have to have this many stalls or they will go somewhere else - you think as Racing Secretary or track owner - wow - I have to give them the stalls, especially if they have some stakes quaility horses because that is what makes us look good. That only leaves 200 stalls for all the other trainers. But they are the ones that will fill the races for the big guy. Which is why you see either short fields, a trainer with two or three horses in a race or both. Once the small trainer has been driven out by the huge conglomerate trainers (Walmart vs everyone else) you lose the diversity needed for a good race.


Possibly worse, many of those 150 stalls are filled by horses that are not necessarily going to even start at the meet, like babies, horses coming back after a layoff and prepping for a summer run, etc., all of which take up a stall. It's enough to make a Racing Secretary cry.

[Andymays]

Agree.

[Trackmomma]

Possibly worse, many of those 150 stalls are filled by horses that are not necessarily going to even start at the meet, like babies, horses coming back after a layoff and prepping for a summer run, etc., all of which take up a stall. It's enough to make a Racing Secretary cry.

Or by horses that have been in training for years that the trainer has no intention of ever running. They are just there taking up space and generating day money so the trainer can milk a rich owner they have convinced has the next Zenyatta if they just be patient.

[Fredo]

No wonder why. I bought 25% of a horse named Pinata' 2 years ago. He's a 3rd cousin to Zenyatta. I'm not gonna name the trainer's name but I have been billed 2800-3400.00 a month .I have to cash a large P4 every month to pay for this hay burner.