WTF IS THE DEAL WITH THIS RUNNING FOR PURSE MONEY ONLY BS?

It happens at other tracks too. I don't know about this one today, but the one on Friday was because the horse lost a shoe during the warmup, about 2 minutes before the race. The options are either to scratch the horse altogether or scratch it for betting purposes only. If you had that one on Friday, which finished second by a neck, wouldn't you be irate and cheated when you found out AFTER the race that the horse was running with only three shoes?

Agree. Hey - didn't I read Nick's bro-in-law is Lukas' blacksmith? Well Nick - WTH happened? LOL

wiz, it's a damned if you do and a damned if you don't situation. I don't remember the actual race, but wasn't there a Breeders' Cup race where a horse lost a shoe and they took something like 10 minutes to get a new shoe? The other horsemen were livid - their horses were on the track for more than 20 minutes and were all primed to run for most of that time. That was ridiculous.

On the other hand, if they scratch the horse the connections of the scratched horse, which probably would run at 90% anyway, get screwed out of preparing for the race for nothing. On Friday they got second money (about $25K I think) but today they got basically the minimum appearance fee.

Does he fly around the country in a private jet? Generally horses get new shoes a day or two before a race, and both Maker and Lukas have horses at four or five tracks at a time.

sorry to the owners, but tough shit. it happens. scratch and race another day. or have your own private shoer on hand 24/7 to take care of this kind of thing. either way, the horse should have been scratched and not run.

There's always a "simple" solution that isn't so simple. The fact is that there WAS a farrier on-hand and tried to put a new shoe on Courageous Julie's foot, but he couldn't, so they scratched her for betting purposes. So, you see the inept, stupid, ridiculous racing people at Saratoga DID attempt to do what those after the fact say should have been done.

Unfortunate that people tend to shoot first and aim later. But if it gives those people an opportunity to bash NY racing, why not jump at it?

By the way, at the Irish Oaks one horse needed new rear shoes which delayed the start of the race for more than 20 minutes - many involved with the races were livid about the delay.

Alan are you saying the blacksmith couldn't shoe the horse. What was the problem did they say?. If the horse had a foot problem he should have been scratched period and not allowed to run and influence the race.

wiz, I do recognize when NYRA screws up. If you recall, less than an hour after I got home from Saratoga last week I posted a few things that are screwed up, including the lack of a traditional tote board in the infield.

But, on the other hand some are eager to find even the most miniscule shortcomings and blame it on "puppets", "that idiot", etc., along with uninformed criticism (aka complaints), or claim that they don't know what they're doing.

The fact is that the decision to scratch or not scratch the horses over the weekend was in the hands of the stewards, not NYRA. The stewards are not appointed solely by NYRA, they only appoint one. The other two are appointed by the Jockey Club and the NYS Racing Commission (or Gaming Commission, it changes frequently)

Also, despite the uninformed criticism, there are farriers on the grounds ready to make emergency repairs or replacements of horses' shoes. But in some cases it's either not possible (in the case on Sunday) or not practical (in the case on Friday)

In the first case on Friday, the shoe problem was noticed as the horses were entering the gate at the top of the stretch on the inner turf course. Anyone familiar with Saratoga (not talking about you....) knows that the paddock is way behind the grandstand. For a horse to return to the paddock for a new shoe (as the other horses are getting ready to go into the gate), it would have to go about a quarter mile to the path to the paddock, make it's way through the crowd in front and in back of the grandstand. It's just idiotic to expect, at that point, a horse to return to the paddock for a new shoe. That would have delayed the race probably about twenty minutes, and the other horses, already warmed up and primed to race, would have had to wander around in the hot, humid weather.

The second situation, on Sunday, the problem was discovered while the horse were still in the paddock. The farrier, for some reason, was unable to replace the shoe.

In both cases it was the STEWARDS that decided to scratch the horses for betting purposes but allow them to run for purse only.

By the way, California has a similar rule (CHRB rule 1974), allowing horses to run for purse money only but not for betting purposes. I can't remember the last time I've seen that happen, but I do recall it happening a few times at Los Alamitos.