CHRB Proposes Fatal Breakdown Claiming Rule

[kimberley mine]

To be fair in my eyes , honestly it should be transfer of ownership after the race no benefits or transfer COMPLETELY as soon as those gates flap open good bad whatever comes.

But the new owner didn't pay the bills on the horse for the past 30 days. Why should he get the horse and the purse? If the new owner wants to minimize the risk, there is always claim insurance.

Personally, I think that the idea of voiding a claim if the claimed horse does not live to walk to the shedrow is a fair split-the-difference compromise.

As it is now, change of ownership of the animal is when the gate opens but change of ownership of money generated by the animal is when the race ends. Changing the rules so that you have to have a live animal at the end in effect pushes the time of change of ownership to after the race is over...up until that point, the horse and any money generated by the horse belong to the original owner. The new owner gets a live horse, the old owner gets the selling price plus the purse.

[TJ]

Well I count myself amongst those speak against the way the tide currently flows in racing, but I hardly consider myself uneducated. Plus while I am sure claiming insurance is partaken of I seriously doubt that horses running for a tag of $7500 or lower have people that are going to take that measure. I too am also tired of the worn out argument that racing is risky so thats it ,case closed. Well life in general is risky and we sure as hell do a million things to try and not assume that risk. Just because something is deemed to have risk attached to it does not mean that it should be assumed that it can't be done with safer measures. I don't think a total overhaul needs to be done, but some change can't make it any worse than it is already.
Nor do I see bans on trainers after 3 positives, especially if it becomes drug free, as extreme. That's like saying after 3 driving while intoxicated convictions you lose your license. There has to be repercussions, because there really isn't much of anything in place as it stand now. If there was the Delahoussayes, Biancones, and Dutrows of the world would not have trained as long as they did without the sky eventually beginning to fall.
Not to mention seems that every other racing jurisdiction worldwide seems to find more than enough horses to run without fear of trainer shortage.
As an owner, I am completely fine with the fact of dropping my horse in lower to WIN , thats the point of claiming races to get that win....well isn't it pandering to me if I take that RISK that someone claims my horse but if it does well I get the cash on the spot and they don't I'm even more enriched, but if it keels over right out of the starting gate I can walk off an say "Damn lucky day I had today, I sold me a dead horse."
Again I am not looking to bicker back and forth, I am just stating my opinion on the matter. If racing held it's act together in the first place you wouldn't have these "interventions" from outside sources. jmo.

Hi Spex,
I don't want to bicker either....and allow me clarify what I meant....I'm not calling you or any of the posters uneducated, please accept my apology if that's how it read....I meant the uneducated reference to those that are pushing these changes at a higher level...especially when the Fed's start to get involved.....with this new Goverment addition to racing, I'm glad I should be out of the business and enjoying my retirement before this "catastropic break down" (not breakdown) occurs in horse racing. I enjoy these discussions and that's all they are....not arguments or bickering....simple discussions that may change our individual outlook on something. Without good and civil discussions, there can be no higher learning. I respect your opinion and welcome it....we've had interesting discussions before and will continue, I'm sure. TJ

[TJ]

Nor do I see bans on trainers after 3 positives, especially if it becomes drug free, as extreme. That's like saying after 3 driving while intoxicated convictions you lose your license. There has to be repercussions, because there really isn't much of anything in place as it stand now. If there was the Delahoussayes, Biancones, and Dutrows of the world would not have trained as long as they did without the sky eventually beginning to fall.

Hi Spex,
As I mentioned the Feds, which to me are uneducated to racing think they know best....this is an excerp from a bill they are looking to pass TJ
.......Under the legislation by Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., any person with three violations of the prohibition would be permanently banned from horse racing. A horse that tests positive for performance-enhancing drugs three times would receive a ban of at least two years.

[TJ]

Hi Dave and Sysonby,
I totally agree with the both of you...I'm really getting sick and tired of listening to the uneducated try to dictate what's best for horse racing. Horse racing is risky, they seem to want to eliminate the risk and that just won't happen. That happens at the trainer level....constant care and looking out for his charge. Running when they are right....yet that still doesn't mean fate and racing luck will be on your side when you bring them to the post. How many times have you been called by the racing office, to run your horse (who you puposely didn't enter because you thought it wouldn't be the best spot or best interest of/for your horse)....or the race didn't give your horse enough time to recoup from his previous start and additional pressure too soon could cause a physical problem? Then they put pressure on you to enter and if you want to keep your stalls you run....if the horse breaks down, or gets hurt because he ran back to quickly, does track management care....I don't think so. They sway in the direction that the wind is blowing....can you imagine what will happen when the feds put in their two cents. A bunch of talking heads without a clue about horse racing. They want to ban trainers after 3 positives. That is extreme and they will find they will be banning more trainers than there will be horses able to run back in short order after they do away with lasix and bute. TJ

It's the Internet echo chamber fueled by the high profile breakdowns of Eight Belles and Barbaro. Even though neither horse ever ran in a single claiming race, people are trying to use their deaths to change the claiming rules without IMO fully understanding basics like how to read condition books, manage a racing stable and the claiming game in the first place.

As a result, these message boards are like word association tests - claiming equals bad and cheap horses are cripples and that just keeps getting repeated without examination. That's not to say there's no room for debate but is this really the biggest issue California racing is facing?

Really?

Hi Sysonby,
The good and decent horseman/women far out number those that are unscrupulous and will take the brunt of this. The most ridiculous of all is the Federal Gov't. getting involved....guess they do such a good job for us we should respect what they decide for an industry they know nothing about. The tracks that run claiming races are responsible for bad horses getting by and breaking down on the track. We all know those horses that are barely making it and are dropped till someone thinks they are a bargain....they end up getting the hot potato. The tracks know these horses as well as anyone else that's seen them, but turn away so as to get a full race card. The decent trainers do what they can to run their horse when they're 100%, of the handfull that drug their horses to the max to get by the examining vet so they can lose them in a claiming race will always push the envelope. As I've said....a more intense pre-race exam is required....bringing ultra sound and instant computer x-rays to the exam of a suspect horse...but will never be instituted because of the added expense to the track and the smaller fields that will ensue.
It's interesting that these two legislative geniuses' who are sponsoring the trainer bans and no drugs bill are bringing it out right before the Derby so they can play the Eight Belles card....let her rest in peace.
Cali racing needs to figure out a way to have a track that can stand up to monsoons.....In all my years in racing I've never seen any that can.....both synthetic and dirt have failed there so far....and let's not forget who mandated the synthetic tracks without a good evauation of them. TJ

[zinn21]

Although I am in favor of the rule change I can see both sides of the argument. For me, I am just plain tired of these big training factories jamming horses with chips down everyones throat in an attempt to squeeze another check out of the horse. It makes me sick.

[TJ]

Although I am in favor of the rule change I can see both sides of the argument. For me, I am just plain tired of these big training factories jamming horses with chips down everyones throat in an attempt to squeeze another check out of the horse. It makes me sick.

Hi Zinn,
And we both know that happens every day and they get by the vet every time. Claim the same horses then try to run it.....more times then not, that's when the horse will be a vet scratch. TJ