Some trainers feel Saratoga's main track rail too deep
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Some horsemen have expressed concern with Saratoga’s main track, specifically that the inside is too deep in the stretch, but is not that way on the backside.
The issue came to light Saturday morning when a horse trained by Robert Falcone Jr. fell down near the finish line while galloping out following a workout. Additionally, trainer Todd Pletcher, after watching horses work early Saturday morning, reached out to Glen Kozak, NYRA’s senior vice president/operations and capital projects, to express some concern about the inside.
“Seeing a trend where horses are tiring in the stretch,” Pletcher said. “Horses on the inside are consistently finishing second in their works. He told me he will take a look at it.”
Pletcher added that he doesn’t see the same trend when he works horses out of the gate on the main track -- where the majority of the work occurs down the backside.
“Horses working from the gate seem to be working fast,” Pletcher said.
Coincidentally, the Falcone-trained horse, Tunnel Vision, a 2-year-old New York-bred son of Mineshaft, did work a half-mile from the gate in 49.66 seconds, but he fell down near the wire while galloping out. There were still some fans on the rail and in the area where the New York Racing Association hosts Breakfast at Saratoga, who witnessed the horse fall.
Tunnel Vision was down for several minutes before getting up and jogging up the stretch, ultimately being caught by an outrider at the half-mile pole. The crowd applauded when the horse got up.
Falcone said Tunnel Vision suffered a left shoulder injury and he was still undergoing further evaluation
John Castillo, the exercise rider on Tunnel Vision, was removed from the track on a stretcher and taken to Saratoga Hospital. Falcone said all tests done on Castillo were negative and he just got “a little knocked out.”
Falcone said he has not been satisfied with condition of the main track.
“I’ve been complaining about this track for two weeks,” Falcone said. “This track is not okay. It’s deep in some parts, not in other parts.”
Aside from the call he received from Pletcher Saturday morning, Kozak said he has not heard of any concerns regarding the main track. He said that the usual pre-meet inspection done on the track were all satisfactory and consistent with last year. Kozak said the moisture content on both the frontside and backside are the same.
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Kozak said that due to the extended number of hot days, “we’ve had to use more water on the course for sure,” he said.
Through the first 17 racing days of the meet there had not been any racing-related, or training-related fatalities.
However, on Saturday there were two fatalities during training hours. Credit Event, trained by Chad Brown, suffered a fracture during a workout over the main track and though he made it back to the barn afterward, he was euthanized. On July 16, Credit Event, a 3-year-old son of Not This Time, won an allowance race here.
A second horse, Plurality, was injured after he was run into by a horse trained by David Donk during training hours Saturday morning.
According to the New York State Gaming Commission website, Plurality, an unraced 2-year-old colt by Munnings, became colicky, presumably after being treated for a potential hind-end injury and had to be euthanized.
Prior to Plurality being euthanized, Brown expressed frustration with the incident, saying “it might be time to evaluate the requirements to be an exercise rider.”
Regarding the incident, Donk said, “There are 20 different stories of what happened and I’ll leave it at that. We’ll let the safety stewards investigate it.”