Playing it Safe

While reading the minutes from the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission's meeting on July 20, 2010, the most recent available on its web site, we came across this information provided by Delaware Park to the Commission concerning breakdowns and fatalities (scroll down to the last page of the document):

Delaware Park Breakdown Statistics

What struck us was the detailed information contained in this report, and also that the track seems to be a very safe place to race.  Although only two months of information are shown, for May and June, 2010, you can see there were no racing fatalities in May from 1,332 starters, and two in June, from 1,386 starters.  That translates to 0.74 fatal M-S racing injuries per 1,000 starters, an excellent number.  Looking back over the years, in 2006 Delaware Park only had 12 racing fatalities from 9,318 starters, or 0.97 fatal M-S racing injuries per 1,000 starters. In 2007, it had 11 fatalities from 8,536 starters, or 1.17 fatal injuries; in 2008, it had 16 fatalities from 8,460, or 1.77, and in 2009, it had 14 from 8,188, or 1.59.

What makes Delaware's numbers so good is that the national injury incidence rate is much higher.  In March, The Jockey Club announced data on racing fatalities in North America.  Based upon a year’s worth of data beginning November 1, 2008 to October 31, 2009, from 378,864 total starts in Thoroughbred flat races at 73 racetracks participating in the Equine Injury Database, 2.04 fatal injuries were recorded per 1,000 starts.

Here is The Jockey Club's data sheet:

http://www.jockeyclub.com/resources/SDA_062310.pdf

It would be a welcome change if all racetracks followed Delaware Park's lead and let the "sunshine in," providing detailed information about breakdowns and safety.

Midsummer musings

Unlike Kentucky, California and Florida, there are only a handful of stallions in Pennsylvania whose first crops hit the races in any given year.  That's because, traditionally, most of the Keystone State's stallion roster is comprised of horses that have stood in other states - usually Kentucky or Florida - and were moved in order to breathe new life and generate renewed interest in often-faltering stud careers.

But once the Pennsylvania Breeding Fund began soaring to astronomical heights thanks to slot machine revenue, stallions owners began eyeballing Pennsylvania as a desirable and lucrative destination, not as a last resort.  Consider this: In 2003, the year before slots legislation was passed by state legislators, the total money in the Breeding Fund was $8,489,644.  In 2008, three years after the legislation was passed, the Breeding Fund had risen to $21,702,888.  Last year, due to cash-strapped state coffers, the Breeding Fund was raided by budget-balancers in Harrisburg, and it topped out at $16,429,679, where it is again projected to be in 2010.

In the last three years, the parade of new stallions to Pennsylvania began like never before.  Among them was Grade 2 winner Fairbanks, who retired to new Northview-Pa in Peach Bottom in 2009 for a stud fee of $7,500, a record for a freshman sire. In 2010, Jump Start and Honour and Glory, two former Kentucky sires, came to Ghost Ridge Farms with stud fees of $10,000 and $6,500, respectively.  Castleton-Lyons, a well-respected Kentucky farm, sent four stallions to Gayle Gerth's Dana Point Farm in Lenhartsville in 2009-10, including millionaire Sir Shackleton, whose first foals are 2-year-olds of 2010, and third-crop sire Toccet.  Other sires to begin their stud careers in Pennsylvania within the last two years include millionaire Buzzards Bay, who stands at Timber Ridge Farm in Felton, and Talent Search, who retired to Diamond B Farm in Mohrsville. 

In just a few weeks the announcements will begin as to what stallions will be calling Pennsylvania their home for 2011, as well as who among the current corps will be leaving.  It's always an exciting time of year, but we have a feeling that there may be a bombshell announcement or two that will have breeders buzzing.  Stay tuned right here for the latest as we hear it.

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At least five times over the summer, parents left their kids unattended in the Parx Casino parking lot, and the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is none too happy about it.

The Gaming Board said on Thursday that Parx officials and Bensalem police are not doing enough to stop this potentially deadly act from occurring.  Apparently the urge to gamble is so strong that the lives of children are being put at risk. 

"The Board stressed to Parx that this is really a life-or-death issue and we want it taken seriously," said Gaming Board spokesman Doug Harbach.

Training at Philadelphia Park Racetrack, tucked in behind the massive Parx Casino, is set to resume this weekend after three weeks hiatus for track maintenance.  Live racing will return on August 29, with the renovated grandstand taking center stage.

Some nice horses - and places - I've seen

As a follow-up to the previous post, "Some pretty places I've been," I thought I would do a posting that features some horses and places I've been lucky enough to photograph over the past few years, not necessarily restricted to Pennsylvania and Maryland. 

The first is a picture of Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Real Quiet, photographed last January at Penn Ridge Farm's Open House in Harrisburg, Pa.:

Here's a picture of Penn Ridge's barn and the Open House tent from that day:

Next is a picture of the stallion Gators N Bears, taken at Bonita Farm's Open House last winter in Maryland:

Here is Preakness Stakes winner Deputed Testamony, also taken at Bonita Farm:

From my trip to Kentucky last August, here's Malibu Moon at Spendthrift Farm:

Birdstone, photographed at Gainesway Farm last August:

The Adena Springs stallion barn and fountain:

A broodmare barn and fountain at Gainesway Farm, last August:

The entranceway to WinStar Farm, home to Tiznow, Distorted Humor and other fine stallions:

The stall door of Medaglia d'Oro, taken at Darley:

Speaking of Tiznow, here he is:

My daughter Devon, next to a halter display in WinStar's stallion barn:

The main barn at WynOaks Farm in Delta, Pa.:

And finally, the stallion Fastness (Ire), with Timber Ridge Farm's owner Boggs Shoemaker:

Some pretty places I've been

In the last three years, I have been lucky enough to visit nearly every thoroughbred farm in Pennsylvania and many in Maryland, meeting some really great people in the process.  I thought I would post some pictures from those visits and share their beauty with you. 

First up is Gayle Gerth's picturesque Dana Point Farm in Lenhartsville, Pa.  Here are shots from both winter and summer:

Here is Travis and Wendy Kinnamon's main house on their lovely Break Away Farm in Kirkwood, Pa.:

And here is Sylmar Farm in Christiana, Pa., owned by Ronnie and Betsy Houghton (Wendy Kinnamon's parents).  The Houghtons were Pennsylvania's leading breeders last year and in 2004:

Here is gorgeous Timber Ridge Farm in Felton, Pa., last October.  It's owned by Boggs Shoemaker:

A pasture scene from new Northview-Pa. in Peach Bottom:

And finally, here's the now-defunct Maryland Stallion Station that was located in Darlington, Md.  What a beautiful farm, especially in the autumn. 

If you choose to use any of these photos, please credit Linda Dougherty.  Thanks for reading this blog!

Remember when ... ?

While searching through our files, we came across a couple of documents from 1996 that made us chuckle.  The first is a letter from Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge to Matthew J. Ryan, Speaker of the House of Representatives, on Nov. 20, 1996.  It expresses Ridge's views about expanded gaming (slots) in the Keystone State.  Little did Ridge realize that just eight years later his successor, Ed Rendell, would successfully push through slots legislation, thus paving the way for Pennsylvania's racetracks to offer higher purses and making the state one of the most desirable places in which to breed thoroughbreds.  Check it out (if you click on the image, you will then be able to enlarge it):

Next is a pull-quote from the Daily Racing Form dated October, 1996.  The quote was uttered by F. Eugene Dixon, Jr., then-chairman of the Pennsylvania Racing Commission, after a Commission meeting at Philadelphia Park.  Dixon, an esteemed and respected businessman and horseman, was not happy with the state of affairs at the Bensalem oval while under the ownership of Greenwood Racing, Inc.  We wonder what Fitz would have thought about Greenwood and its fancy casino Parx if he saw it today. 

 

Headin' into the Dog Days

Philadelphia Park has lurched into August by shutting down live racing for nearly the entire month. The next live racing program is set for August 29.

There have been conflicting reports as to how long the actual racing surface will be off-limits for training, however. A person in attendance at the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association meeting on July 24 said it was announced that the estimated time would only be about 10 days.

Apparently, the track will be employing some state-of-the-art technology in performing this “maintenance.”

In the most recent issue of the PTHA’s newsletter, it reveals that Philly Park is using the latest technology to resurface the racetrack. The technology, called Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), uses radar pulses to image the subsurface or “shoot the grades,” which detects the irregularities or unevenness on the track, without any drilling or pulling back the cushion, thus saving time if repairs need to be made. Any problems can be diagnosed before digging.

“We shoot at 25-inch intervals around the entire track, and from the rail out at regular intervals, in order to produce all of the information needed to evaluate the base of the track,” said track superintendent Roy Smith. “It is very time consuming, but is much easier than using string and tools for measurements, which was done in the past.”

However long it takes, many of the horses stabled at Philadelphia Park will be receiving a long-overdue vacation during the dog days of August.

More Pha news: Beginning late in July, Philadelphia Park increased the purse payment back to last place from $150 to $200. However, the PTHA will now deduct an additional $10 per start from owner’s accounts for the fund “to promote racing.”

It was explained that this money would be used “to help educate our legislators on the impact of racing on the economy of the Commonwealth.”

Ten dollars per start is already deducted from owner’s accounts to help fund the Turning For Home retirement program.

* ** *

While we’re on the subject of the Pha, one of the names that has been bandied about lately as a potential entrant in the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on September 28 is champion Lookin at Lucky, winner of this year’s Gr. 1 Preakness Stakes and Haskell Invitational Handicap.

A Philadelphia newspaper speculated that last year’s 2-year-old champ could be under consideration for the event; however, the colt came down with a slight fever after the Haskell and his training has been interrupted.

Besides the purse, we can’t imagine that trainer Bob Baffert and his ownership would seriously think about the Pa. Derby, especially since it is a Grade 2 event.