JOSEPH DI RIENZI, PH.D. I am writing to express my disapproval of the recent new emergency procedures put in place by the New York Racing Association (NYRA) in response to the higher-than-average number of racing fatalities during this years winter meet at Aqueducts inner track. Most of the new regulations appear to be public relations efforts to show the NYRAs earnest efforts to deal with these tragedies and keep the media and the New York state regulators at bay. However, the restriction on time between races (at least 14 days) is way off the mark because there is no concrete evidence that short intervals between races lead to unsoundness. In fact, two of the sport=s greatest trainers, Elliot Burch and Woody Stephens, used the Metropolitan H. run in the same week as the Belmont S. as a prep for some of their Belmont winners. As already pointed out by members of the racing community, if the NYRA hosted the Preakness with its current schedule, no horse that competed in the Kentucky Derby would be eligible to run on the third Saturday in May, despite the overwhelming recent statistics that demonstrate the Preakness winner previously raced 14 days ago in the Derby. (What this restriction would do to the prospects of a future Triple Crown winner boggles the mind.) What really upsets me is that the men and women who developed this response to racehorse deaths are ignoring two elephants in the room. The smaller elephant is racing on a track that is difficult to make safe with the effects of winter weather in New York. The other, much larger elephant is unsound, over medicated horses, certified as being sound. Until the sport of Thoroughbred racing deals nationally with the abuse of medication, we will not see real progress in racehorse safety. Thank you, Joseph Di Rienzi, Ph.D. Professor of Physics Notre Dame of Maryland University (From the TDN)
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 12:37:52 +0000
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