Via TD Thornton
Amid heated comments from stakeholders that the new ground surface underway at Laurel Park has improved dramatically after eight people died from major roadway fractures there this fall, the race was revealed to proceed as scheduled on December 16 for the first time in 18 days.
The Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) determined in a video conference Tuesday that a vote is not technically required for racing to continue, but the board is sure to solicit plenty of feedback from the drivers, trainers, track executives, track surface consultants and veterinarians prior to giving verbal approval for the tag were drawn on Thursday.
The most insightful commentary of the meeting was provided by commissioner R. Thomas Bowman, a veterinarian who chairs the MRC’s Horse Health, Safety and Welfare Advisory Committee. He spoke frankly and forthrightly while drawing up a plan for how to prevent future horse deaths.
“Transparency and trust and cooperation are not always part of the culture on the track,” Bowman said, noting that the financial interests of horse breeders and track managers often outweigh health considerations like.
“The safety of the horses and riders is often put in the background,” says Bowman. “It’s not an accusation, and it’s not an indication of what’s going on now. It’s just a fact of the way we’ve evolved over a long period of time…
“In my mind, there doesn’t seem to be any indication that any partisans are not willing to stand up and try to work this out,” Bowman said. “And it is a difficult task.
“One of the things that bothered me the most, and still irks me, was the fact that this final set of tragedies should have been foretold when the horsemen started shouting that the track was too fast, ‘ Bowman said. “I am not pointing my finger at anyone. I am saying that the process by which this information filters upstream to the commission… is inefficient, not working. And it upsets me to death that we have to go through this.”
Bowman said that since the track was shut down on November 29, he has been working with stakeholders and executives from The Stronach Group (which owns the Maryland Jockey Club). [MJC], thus owning Laurel) to put in place a system that allows everyone involved with safety-related input to be regularly monitored.
“If the coaches felt that they could go to someone and their complaints weren’t just dismissed, we’d probably have broken a lot of this,” Bowman said.
Bowman said the idea of holding a mandatory weekly meeting to accomplish that goal was first proposed, but he doesn’t support the fact that stakeholders don’t care that way because public meetings don’t work. It’s not always in the interest of everyone to speak frankly.
Instead, he said he’s working on a plan in which Heidi Thomas, MJC’s senior veterinarian, will actively do spins on his back to regularly talk to the horseman, the other veterinarians who ride and follow the executives before turning what they say into brief feedback that will directly relate to the MRC and its own team of veterinarians.
“That should give some public voice to those involved,” Bowman said. “That will help. But what’s even more important is trying to create a process where we don’t have to wait until we see a broken leg before we start to recognize the problems and that’s some kind of early warning system. …
“I don’t think this is the end of the process. I think that’s the beginning of the process. But it will at least give the riders a chance to express themselves and know it’s going to get somewhere,” Bowman said.
MRC President Michael Algeo agrees: “This is a fresh start, as Tom said. Maybe a watershed moment. We will do this on a regular basis, because we cannot allow [equine injuries or deaths] continue to happen. ”
The death cluster is the latest safety blow at Laurel. After years of freezing/thawing and drainage troubles, the main track was in poor condition last spring, Laurel stopped racing on April 11 to begin an emergency overhaul. , which involved multi-million dollar rebuilds from the ground up.
As racing resumed at Laurel on September 9, the main track had no apparent safety issues. But when cold weather starts to reveal problems with the seams in the bottom of the house, then the top padding of that layer needs to be redone significantly to give it more body and depth.
“There’s been a huge learning curve with this material and this song from when it was released in July until now,” said Chris Bosley, director of tracking for MJC. “We know we still have a long way to go. But we’re working with every industry expert we can [and] We won’t stop until this is perfect. And once it’s perfect, we’ll do everything we can to keep it the same, to keep it perfect.”
Two of the consultants have direct knowledge of Laurel: John Passero, who was MJC’s track director several decades ago, and Glen Kozak, who served in a similar capacity mid- 2000s before being hired by the New York Racing Association and eventually promoted to senior vice president of operations and capital projects.
“This is a changed racetrack,” said Passero. “They are adding a medium coarse sand to give it a body. We’ll go back to a system I’ve been using – there’s a lot of depth. It seems very good with horses. I looked at it, and I looked at the nail prints, and I drove the tractors. I think we are definitely on the right track [and] I think it can only get better.”
Kozak added, “It is definitely trending in the right direction…. Products being used on the track are all sold on site, so this is something that can continue in preparing this thing for winter racing. It’s definitely a different track than it was a week ago when I saw it, and it all looks like it’s heading in the right direction. ”
“I think we’re definitely in a much better place than we are,” said Tim Keefe, president of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association.
Jockey Xavier Perez said, “The difference in the surface of the track is 20 times better than the original.”
Teammate Victor Carrasco also agreed.
“I feel like the track is in great condition,” he said.
But Carrasco added that going forward, it is the responsibility of riders and exercisers to let the trainer know if a horse has a sound problem or isn’t feeling well, rather than saying nothing. and letting someone else get on a horse can be dangerous.
“It’s not just the track,” Carrasco insisted.
