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The Test for Racing

Posted by noonante on August 7, 2023
Posted in: Horse Racing, Political/Social commentary. Tagged: , , , , , , . 1 Comment

There’s a popular racetrack aphorism: “If you didn’t have bad luck, you wouldn’t have any luck at all.” That could describe the state of the sport in recent months, particularly among casual or non-fans. At Derby time, a spate of deaths at Churchill Downs, including on Derby day itself, sparked yet another of the existential crises racing too often confronts. Saturday at Saratoga – again, one of the sport’s preeminent sites – an absolutely devastating fatal breakdown occurred in the final yards of The Test Stakes, a Grade 1 event for three-year old fillies.

The day was all set for the feel-good story of racing for the past two years: Cody’s Wish, named after a young man with a serious illness, was going for his seventh straight win in one of the track’s premier events, the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes. Namesake Cody Dorman and his family were there.

Another feel-good story would be developed in an earlier event, The Test. The trainer, Melanie Giddings, is a cancer survivor with a small stable in her first year of training one her own. She brought Maple Leaf Mel, her undefeated New York-bred to face some of the big fillies in the country, including the winner of the Kentucky Oaks. They were the subject of a feature segment on the Fox broadcast. Literally seconds away from what would be the first Grade 1 win for either, the filly broke down. (Cody’s Wish was later defeated.)

Even though I no longer live there, I subscribe to my former home-town paper, The Boston Globe. They cover horse racing that is not reporting the result of a Triple Crown race as often as The Daily Racing Form covers the debt limit. So, on Sunday I was interested in seeing if they had anything to say. It was an AP report with the headline opening with “Horse dies ….” No mention of the Whitney.

I anticipate this will spur another round of commentary from the mainstream media about fatalities in horse racing. It was the second fatality in a stakes race at Saratoga in three days. There was yet another the following day, the fourth in 14 days. There have also been three during training since the meet began. While I think a common thread in these articles – if the past is any guide – will be a lack of knowledge about racing and what is being done to improve it.

The knee-jerk response by many in the racing community will be to blame “the media” as is so often the case in other spheres where unpleasant (and undisputed) facts are presented. Nonetheless, we all need to confront what is an unfortunate and inevitable reality. Questions of safety have also become an increasing subject of friends and colleagues. It is not easy – indeed it is becoming increasingly difficult – but there are answers, if only hopeful ones.

There are significant events that are positive, including the implementation of a uniform and national program of Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC). As with all things in racing, of course, there are the naysayers who want to end this positive development. (That may not make racing unique since that is a characteristic, seemingly, of most events in our country these days.)

The ADMC Program was implemented over two months ago under the auspices of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) established by the U.S. Congress in 2020. While it was delayed because of litigation, the enforcement arm, the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU), has hit the ground running. (Sorry for all the initials, but they are ones we will get used to.)

As with any initiative that attempts to impose national standards on an industry that has been correctly characterized as fractious and inconsistent in its oversight, there have been hiccups in the HISA implementation. The CEO, Liza Lazarus, and her leadership team have demonstrated their willingness to listen to complaints and make corrections to their rules. They have been readily available in all forums to the extent that Lazarus may be the only racing figure now more prevalent than Bob Baffert.

The complainants, primarily the National Horsemen Benevolent and Protective Association and their state affiliates, have raised a laundry list of issues regarding HISA. I do not think they rise to a level of serious concern. One need only listen to the objection of the NHBPA’s General Counsel, Peter Ecabert, to appreciate the fatuousness of their complaints. One of his major issues is that the medication control rules were implemented “nearly a year late.” He does not say the reason for that was the injunction obtained by his client, the NHBPA (later overturned on appeal).

But the other response to those raising questions is the horse and those who care for them. It is one thing to appreciate a Cody’s Wish on the racetrack, but seeing his interaction with his namesake human makes one appreciate the intelligence, sensitivity and nobility of the thoroughbred.

The love of most of those responsible for the care of the racehorse, whether it be the stable hand, groom, trainer or owner makes one realize how important the animal’s welfare is.

I did not go to the track this past Saturday and instead followed the races on Fox. While I tend to focus on my wagering, I did see the feature on Melanie Giddings and Maple Leaf Mel. I have not been able to describe the last scene of that to my wife, who was at the track, because I could not get through it without crying.

Maple Leaf Mel was lying down in her stall and Melanie went in and lay down beside her. When Mel raised her head, Melanie brought it into her lap and the two of them lay together like that.

Will New York be next in the spotlight?

Posted by noonante on October 3, 2019
Posted in: Horse Racing, Political/Social commentary, Politics. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

“As the racing world holds its collective breath, Santa Anita opened its fall meet  –  leading to the Breeders’ Cup  –  on Friday.  The one certainty is that any equine fatality will become a national media story.  If there is a second, the calls for outlawing the sport will increase.”  I wrote that Saturday morning.  Saturday afternoon, Santa Anita experienced its first racing fatality and the second since training resumed.

Santa Anita is in the national spotlight because there have now been 32 fatalities on its tracks this year, both in racing and training.  While there are several tracks in the state, Del Mar, the only other one that gets national attention, just concluded its recent meet with no deaths.

New York has four thoroughbred tracks, with Saratoga and Belmont being the most prominent.  New York has so far escaped the level of scrutiny that makes for the daily drama at Santa Anita. It is not, however, because the level of fatalities at New York’s tracks is not in the same ballpark.

If we only look at Saratoga and Belmont, there have been 36 total fatalities this year, including both racing and training.  Aqueduct, which races for the six months not covered by that pair, has had four.  Finger Lakes, a track not run by the New York Racing Association, has had 10.

I am not using these numbers to suggest that there is some sort of meaningful comparison that can be made between safety in California and New York.  There are numerous variables that must be considered in making any conclusions based strictly on numbers.  And California still has not stated publicly if it has determined the reason for the spike in fatalities earlier this year.

My point is that there is another high-profile racing jurisdiction that may have dodged the bullet of national scrutiny, but that it is living on borrowed time.   And that borrowed time may also be true for the racing industry as well.

The Stronach Group that runs California has undertaken a number of reforms to address the crisis.  Among the more controversial steps have been restrictions on the use of the whip and a gradual phase-out of the race-day medication Lasix.  It has also increased significantly pre-race veterinary examination protocols and is now requiring advance notice of morning works and pre-work veterinary reviews.  California’s regulatory body, the Horse Racing Board (CHRB), has been extensively involved in discussing and approving safety iniitatives.

While The Stronach Group and the CHRB are addressing both safety concerns and the increasingly negative perception of racing with imaginative and forward looking steps, the same cannot be said of its counterparts in New York.  NYRA is the parallel of The Stronach Group and the New York State Gaming Commission is the regulatory body akin to the CHRB overseeing horse racing.

New York experienced its own high-profile crisis with equine fatalities in the early part of 2012 at Aqueduct Racetrack.  Governor Andrew Cuomo directed an investigation by a panel of experts who came up with a 100-page Report looking at possible causes and recommendations for improvement.

One of the recommendations was that the regulatory agency “should expand its recently enacted out-of-competition testing rule” to include additional medications.  It is a recommendation Governor Cuomo specifically cited when he directed the regulatory agency to adopt it.  (Out-of-competition testing is not to be confused with the standard post-race drug testing that is commonplace.)

Out-of-Competition Testing (OCT) is universally accepted as a necessary component of any program to detect cheating in sports.  It is a tool used by the United States Anti-Doping Agency to catch cheats in cycling and track and field, and by the major team sport leagues in America.  Even the Ultimate Fighting Championship has an effective program.  Dr. Rick Arthur, the Equine Medical Director for the state of California, has said that without an out-of-competition testing program with teeth, you won’t have a real anti-doping program.

So how is New York doing?  I have been submitting public records requests for New York data going back to January 1, 2014.  More than five and one-half years later, New York has never identified a thoroughbred horse that tested positive in an out-of-competition test.  Never.

That may be because they do not conduct the unannounced surprise testing that is an essential component of an effective program.  New York’s Gaming Commission instead announces they will be conducting OCT on horses in the days before a Grade I stake worth a million dollars.  The lone exception to this was a low-profile trainer who had some negative media attention before the horses in his barn were tested.  (The treatment of low-profile trainers in contrast to the “super trainers” is a subject for another article.)

There is another matter that Governor Cuomo directed his regulatory agency to implement from the 2012 Task Force Report.  That would be a regulation governing the purse value in claiming races, or the “purse-to-price ratio” that I have written about several times.  Dr. Scott Palmer, DVM, who chaired the Task Force and is now New York’s Equine Medical Director, said:

 … there’s some very good research that’s shown that there is an increased amount of risk of catastrophic injury for horses in claiming races where the purse to price ratio is greater than 1.8 to one.  This is a very sound piece of scientific information …”

(The ratio compares the purse value to the claiming price.  A 1.8 ratio means that the purse cannot exceed $36,000 in a $20,000 claiming race,).

Palmer’s comment was made in a meeting of the Gaming Commission that caused me to wonder if I was hearing things correctly.  Because he was advocating for increasing the ratio over its then-level of 2.0.  So at a time when the nation’s public attention to racing was largely concerned with fatalities at Santa Anita, we had New York’s Equine Medical Director proposing a rule change contrary to that of his own Task Force (and the Governor’s explicit directive) that would lessen safety protections for horses and jockeys.

Over a five-week period beginning in August, three of the fatalities from racing at Saratoga and Belmont came where the purse-to-claim ratio exceeded Palmer’s standard of 1.8.

One can certainly argue that increasing the purse in a claiming race is not going to cause a catastrophic injury.  One can similarly argue that Lasix was not the cause of the fatalities at Santa Anita.  What would seem to be inarguable, however, is that horse racing has a serious public perception problem, and that the use of race-day medication and the Palmer-backed change is not going to convince a skeptical public that racing is doing everything it can to protect horses and jockeys.

While California has The Stronach Group and the CHRB acutely aware of the need for public support, it also has a Governor and a United States Senator who have already made public comments raising a possibility that horse racing could be abolished.  If New York’s racing leaders think Governor Cuomo will stand with them if the state begins to experience a similar level of controversy, it time for them to stop deluding themselves.

The Thoroughbred Daily News had a recent feature in which it asked prominent racing insiders to comment on a controversial proposal by The Jockey Club to regulate breeding.  A common thread of many responses was that the industry had more important issues, implicitly saying that the sport could only focus on one matter at a time.  Much to my delight, TDN is now asking “what would you do to improve the sport?”

The first respondent identified free past performance data as his top priority.  That’s right.  An industry is confronting a legitimate existential crisis and the most important matter is getting free PP’s into the hands of those who don’t want to spend $4 to get a racing card from The Daily Racing Form.

This is a level of obtuseness that may be the second biggest threat to racing’s survival.  The national racing organizations  –  with the notable exception of The Jockey Club  –  are bereft of ideas and are instead clinging desperately to maintain the status quo, even though that status quo has seen constantly declining metrics on the sport’s perception.

One such group, the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, recently put out a statement advocating the retention of Lasix on race day.  Then there is the Association of Racing Commissioners International  –  possibly in an effort to emphasize their cluelessness  – said that if the horse people who cared so much about their horses could not use Lasix, they would start injecting formaldehyde.  Seriously.

New York could join with California and start implementing safety-oriented steps  –  I would start with a vigorous program of Out-of-Competition Testing.  I candidly doubt that New York will take any meaningful actions.  It is yet another reason that those concerned about the future of the sport should push for adoption of the Horse Racing Integrity Act in the United States Congress.

 

 

 

 

New York is oblivious to the efforts to protect horses

Posted by noonante on August 5, 2019
Posted in: Horse Racing, Political/Social commentary, Saratoga thoughts, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

A horse was euthanized on the racetrack at Saratoga on Sunday after it collapsed during the running of the sixth race.  The race was for $25,000 claimers in which the purse had been increased as a result of the New York Gaming Commission’s weakening of a rule intended to protect the safety of horses (and riders).

The rule in question is referred to as the “purse-to-price ratio.”  It refers to the purse value of a claiming race in comparison to the claiming price for a horse in that race. In a race for $25,000 claimers, a 1.8 ratio means that the purse could not be greater than $45,000.  The purse in this race, however, was $52,000.

While this may appear to be an esoteric matter of little consequence, it became a major matter in 2012 when Aqueduct experienced a significant increase in fatalities.  The deaths resulted in a Task Force being appointed to investigate the causes and make recommendations. A potential cause of fatalities identified by the Task Force’s Report was horses being entered in claiming races in which the total purse value of a race far exceeded the claiming price assigned to the horse. The Task Force concluded that

“this imbalance contributed to perceptions that horses were being entered in claiming races beyond their level of competition and forced to perform to the point of serious injury or death….  Accordingly, the Task Force believes that the purse to claim price ratio should be no greater than 1.6, in which the value of the horse is approximately equal to the winner’s share of the purse, and that the Rule should be amended accordingly.”

Governor Cuomo agreed with the Task Force’s determination on the 1.6 ratio, explicitly citing it when he issued a statement ordering implementation of the Report’s recommendations in September, 2012.

Dr. Scott Palmer, DVM, who chaired the Task Force, however, had a different perspective. Three days after the Governor’s order, he wrote a memo to justify supporting a higher ratio of 2.0.  His statement at that time is indicative of his thinking – both then and now – on the relative balance between equine safety and the economic considerations for racetracks, stating that “the Task Force did not consider the business model of Aqueduct in a competitive environment for racehorses.”

The ratio remained at 2.0 until this year when the Gaming Commission  –  at the urging of Dr. Palmer, now New York’s Equine Medical Director  –  weakened the rule and permitted ratios greater than 2.0.  They did this even though Dr. Palmer said at a Commission meeting in July:

“… there’s some very good research that’s shown that there’s an increased amount of risk of catastrophic injury for horses in claiming races where the purse to price ratio is greater than 1.8 to one. This is a very sound piece of scientific information….”

Despite what he recognized as an increased risk to horses and jockeys, Palmer believed his proposed rule change would cause more horsemen to remain in New York rather than ship to a mid-Atlantic track, thereby increasing field size  –  for the economic benefit of the track.  That this justification is identical to the one rejected by the Task Force, however, apparently did not factor into Palmer’s advocacy for the change in the ratio.

I am not suggesting that the increase in the purse for this race is what caused the horse’s death  –  even if the rule had not been relaxed, he could have run for a $50,000 purse.  But a fatal breakdown in an event with an increased purse level was inevitable from the moment the Gaming Commission approved the weakening of the rule.

At a time when racing is facing increased scrutiny following the rise in fatalities at Santa Anita, a change that increases the risk to horses and jockeys is not only short-sighted but foolhardy.  I am not the one who connected increased risk to purse levels.  It was Dr. Palmer who despite saying it was a “very sound piece of scientific evidence” nonetheless advocated forcefully for a change he believed would inure to the economic benefit of a racetrack.

Dr. Rick Arthur, California’s Equine Medical Director, was interviewed on NPR during the Santa Anita crisis and said,  “if we don’t make racing safer, I don’t think the public’s going to allow us to continue the sport.”  New York’s Gaming Commission and its Equine Medical Director have shown they are oblivious to the worsening perception of the sport and placed horses and jockey at greater risk.

 

 

 

Spa’s first week

Posted by noonante on July 23, 2014
Posted in: Horse Racing, Political/Social commentary, Politics, Saratoga thoughts, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Saratoga’s first week is in the books.  As with so much else that differentiates summer in Saratoga during the race meet from the rest of the world, a week is not seven days.  The first week is only four days and the remaining six are six days.  Here are the observations of one person:

  • Quality of the racing cards is generally good:  In recent years, there has been an abundance of 5 1/2 furlong turf races and low level claimers, many of which were at six furlongs.  So far, we have been treated to a variety of races, including honest-to-goodness allowances.  Only three claiming races of $20,000 were run, and only six turf races at 5 1/2.  The fields were of good size except for the number of short fields on “giveaway Sunday,” where five of the races had fields of six or fewer.  I hope that is not an indication that NYRA thinks they can get away with short fields if they are giving away what they describe as a “premier prized mementos.”
  • But how much longer will these stakes retain their grade?  The opening day feature has been the Grade II Schuylerville.  This year’s running attracted a field of only five, forcing NYRA to make it the third race on the card to make for more attractive betting opportunities in the later multi-race exotic wagers.  I read somewhere that the winning Beyer was only a 68.  The CCA Oaks on Sunday was a Grade I event that attracted all of six entrants, none of whom had yet won a Grade I.  The purse was $300,000, which makes the running of Tapiture  Untapable in the Haskell a sensible decision given that a second-place finish there would be a larger purse than winning a race that had been a significant event for three-year old fillies.
  • Is attendance up or down?  It is going to be somewhat difficult to make meaningful comparisons between this year and previous ones since NYRA has decided sensibly to no longer include the “spinners” on giveaway days in the paid attendance.  But the Friday, Saturday and Monday attendance was about where it was two years ago, with the average for the three days being 56 customers higher this year.  Last year saw the meet open with such oppressive heat that the biggest discussion on Opening Day was whether to cancel.
  • NYRA’s cosmetic changes are mostly positive:  The new monitors are an improvement, and the added picnic tables in the backyard are less obtrusive than I expected.  Enlarging the downstairs clubhouse restaurant removed some of the benches, but still left some in place.  One negative on the picnic tables, however, is that by placing them so close to the paddock, the ability of fans to go to the paddock has been seriously restricted.  On the weekend, some of those tables near the paddock were covered by tents, meaning access was even more limited.
  • Who are the guys with NYRA badges who seem to have nothing to do?  I spent a delightful Monday afternoon just walking around in the backyard area.  I was struck by seeing several employees with the NYRA name tags who seemed to have nothing to do.  I realize they may be yet more customer service representatives  –  in addition to those at the “May I help you” stations upon entering the track  –  but it was kind of puzzling.  Perhaps if there was a bigger crowd they would have some work.

That Monday walking around made me realize how much we can take the Saratoga experience for granted.  While going to any race track can be a venture from the real world to a different, totally contained one, Saratoga is more akin to a fantasy.  It’s a beautiful facility located in the nice part of town, and features the best race meet in this country if not the world.  And it is but a short walk to a vibrant downtown or a short drive to beautiful country, whether it be the farms five miles away or the start of the Adirondack mountains 30 miles from here.

Yet it is a fragile environment for racing in New York.  The government-controlled NYRA is preparing a plan for the future structure of racing in New York.  One news report said the draft would be ready next month, but there is no indication that NYRA will share it with either the public or the tens of thousands whose livelihood depends on the racing and breeding industries.

Then there are the signs that NYRA’s management just doesn’t get it.  There is the limited access to the paddock.  They stopped selling clubhouse passes after marketing them in what I thought was a great way to blunt the criticism for increasing prices this year.  It is hard to believe that they are so strapped for cash that they would curtail one of the best fan-friendly initiatives they have  –  with the increased handle that would accompany those going more often because of the pass.

In a press release they issued after the first weekend, they actually hailed an event that show-cased an “all natural, cold-pressed, no concentrate, no sugar added juice” that you may only have seen in Thruway rest stops  –  I’m not making this up.  This would be the same weekend in which they gave up on an ill-conceived idea to limit the availability of a beloved, free newspaper, The Saratoga Special, which has done more to promote interest in Saratoga’s racing than all of their over-the-top press releases.

We should not lose sight of the fact that this is Chris Kay’s second year at the Spa.  After the fiasco the Belmont Stakes was for many fans  –  with no apology forthcoming  –  he continues to make rookie mistakes.

Digging beneath the racetrack surface debate

Posted by noonante on April 9, 2014
Posted in: Horse Racing. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

With last week’s decision by Keeneland to switch from a synthetic surface to dirt coming just two days after The Jockey Club released statistics on the safety of different track surfaces, the health of racehorses is again going to dominate discussions in the sport.  The statistics are from the Equine Injury Database maintained by The Jockey Club, and summarize fatality rates by track surface, age of the horse and distance of a race.

Almost 2 million starts covering the five-year period ending in 2013 were analyzed.  Overall, there were 1.91 racing-related fatalities per 1,000 starts.  On synthetic surfaces the rate was 1.22 while the rate on dirt tracks was 2.08.  The rate on turf courses was 1.63.

While the comparative statistics have been well-known for some time, the decision by Keeneland to revert to dirt coming soon after Del Mar’s decision to do the same, has already fueled controversy about the industry’s concern for the well-being of its athletes, both equine and human.  And it arises just two weeks after the PETA video and accompanying article by Joe Drape in The New York Times.

As with many aspects of racing  –  to say nothing of life in general  –  things are rarely as simple as they may seem at first glance.  Nationally-prominent equine veterinarians say that a dirt surface can be as safe as a synthetic one.  Dr. Scott Palmer, now the Equine Medical Director for New York’s Gaming Commission, said as much during a discussion of track surfaces at the April meeting of the Equine Safety Committee of the New York Racing Association.  Dr. Mary Scollay, Equine Medical Director for Kentucky’s Horse Racing Commission concurs, observing that it is a big mistake to just look at whether a surface is dirt or synthetic.

Then there is Michael “Mick” Peterson, Ph.D., the country’s preeminent expert on racing surfaces.  He is a co-author of a collection of published scientific papers and data that is on The Jockey Club web site entitled, appropriately enough, “Racing Surfaces White Paper.”  The complexity of the topic is evident as one reads through this document, and I do not intend to describe it in any detail.  Suffice it to say that for dirt and turf courses, “moisture is the single most important variable in the maintenance of the surface.”  When it is a synthetic surface, temperature becomes the key variable because of the effect it has on the wax that is a component of such a track.

If you are like me, knowledge of the effect of moisture is watching a track being harrowed and then seeing watering trucks circle the track between races.  I assumed the watering was about as scientific as my using a hose in the garden.  But then I learned from Dr. Peterson what he does for Churchill Downs during Derby weekend.  I do not remember the exact number of points on the track that are tested for moisture content, but it was well in excess of a hundred.  Similarly, the NYRA maintenance staff has a sophisticated method for measuring the moisture content around the entire track.  This permits the scientific application of moisture to provide the safest surface.

One of the benefits of The Jockey Club’s statistical analysis is that it provides a detailed account, by year, of fatalities by surface, age and race distance at specific tracks.  At least it does for those tracks that voluntarily provide such information.  The NYRA tracks did, and so did Frank Stronach’s facilities (Santa Anita, Gulfstream and Pimlico).  By contrast, Churchill Downs did not for its tracks  –  Churchill Downs, Calder and Arlington. That added detail provides some very useful insights.  Keeping in mind that the fatality rate per 1,000 starts on all synthetic surfaces is 1.22, we learn the following:

  • Woodbine in Toronto may be the safest track in North America.  Its rate for each of the five years, including both turf and a synthetic surface, never exceeded 1.19 and the overall rate for the five years was 0.90.
  • Keeneland’s rate on the synthetic surface ranged from a high of 1.39 in 2012 to a low of 0.43 last year.
  • Del Mar’s synthetic also demonstrated a wide range over the five years, exceeding the national average three years, topping out at 2.39 in 2012, but being 0.51 in 2011 and 0.48 in 2013.
  • Pimlico’s dirt exceeded the overall synthetic rate each year and Gulfstream dirt did in four of the five years.
  • Santa Anita, which switched back to dirt near the end of 2010, saw its synthetic rates of 0.90 and 0.57 escalate to 2.94, 2.89 and 2.11 in the subsequent years.
  • Belmont’s dirt rate fell below the synthetic standard in only one of the five years, coming in at 0.88 in 2013.
  • Saratoga experienced a 1.92 in 2010, but bookended that with a 0.00 in 2009 and 0.57 in 2011.  It was 1.23 and 1.29 the last two years.
  • Aqueduct’s two dirt surface showed considerable variety.  The inner track never fell below the rate of 2.08 for all dirt tracks.  If you do not count the aberrant year of 2012 (4.02), the rates hovered in the area of 2.40 with the highest figure of that four-year grouping being 2.47 in 2013.  The main track varied from 0.81 to 3.19.  The rate of 0.81 is from 2013 and is about the same as the 0.87 realized in 2009.

Clearly this more detailed data demonstrates that, as a general proposition, there have been fewer fatalities on a synthetic surface.  It also shows, however, that a dirt track can be as safe.  The overall five-year rate for Woodbine’s synthetic was 0.95;  for the Keeneland poly it was 0.97.  Saratoga’s rate on its dirt surface was 0.99.  Del Mar’s synthetic, by comparison, was 1.45 for the five years.

By chance I was reading a post last week on a completely different subject and came across a quote by H.L. Mencken:  “For every problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.”  While it is easy to criticize the Keeneland decision, the real challenge for racing is to make every surface as safe as possible.  The industry has the wherewithal to accomplish that  –  the only question is whether it has the will.