Johnny V Out For Rest Of Season

[trotman]

Well it's official, John Velazquez will be out for the remainder of the season after his spill in the BC Juvenile Fillies on Saturday. Secret Compass was euthanized as a result of her injuries and this got to me. Lets turn back the clock to 2010 when Penn National jockeys refused to ride any Michael Gill horses because they were uncertain when the next horse would collapse in a race putting their life in danger. Now move the clock forward to this Oct 4th 2013 when Jane Cibelli and her contract vet were both suspended for administering P Bloc an anti-inflammatory and pain block on race day. This is like Russian Roulette for those riders listed to ride her horses, riding horses that need a pain block on race day to perform when they should be rested or in some cases retired. Now turn the clock forward to the end of this years Monmouth Park meet where Jorge Navarro had a 33% win percentage and he is suspended for Flunixin an anti-inflammatory at levels 300 times over than what is permitted from tests on his horses that won at this spring Tampa Bay Downs meet. Then a barn check by authorities at Monmouth Park find Dexycycline Hyclate and Metronidazole tablets both antibiotics and Methocarbamol a muscle relaxant. Vet check on one of his horses that was claimed from Navarro and broke down for the new owners, x-rays revealed no cartilage in the horses joints, yet Navarro while this horse was in his care won 5 races after being claimed by Navarro in May of 2013. Which leads us to this years BC Juvenile Fillies race in which Velazquez goes down when Secret Compass collapses and is euthanized trained by Bob Baffert. In a recent report Baffert accounted for 2.5% of all starters in California and accounted for 19.4% of all horse sudden deaths from Nov 4 2011 to Mar 14 2013. CHRB has been dragging its feet on this matter and has not issued any outcome, probably because its Baffert the California racing's Golden Boy who helped put California racing in the headlines for all those big races past. These jockeys are putting their life on the line every time they take a leg up on a horse by IMO trainers who either don't care about the jockeys or their families all for their own fame and money. Maybe that's our key to make a change, the jockeys do as the Penn National jockeys did and that is to refuse to ride these trainers horses. Yes it will cost them, but not their life and us the bettors who will hold back because we want our money on a sound horse with a competent jockey. This is my thought's for the day or maybe a pipe dream thinking racing will finally change and enforce uniform rules across the board.

[Appy]

Good post. You get no disagreement from me.

[joefour]

Here, Here!
Excellent post.

[polambi]

S C A R Y... S C A R Y ! ! !
I feel bad for Velasquez. We will miss him at Aqueduct. I hope he recovers completely.

[Appy]

Didn't I hear they removed his spleen, among other treatments necessary?
Very bad deal for him, but the horse got an even worse end of that event.

Hate that stuff like this happens as often as it does. However, considering the multitude of starters and the number of races run it isn't really all that often, especially considering the intensity of action involved. I think I saw a stat somewhere saying catastrophic accidents occur in horse racing at the rate of about 1@1000, or something like that. Horses running at leisure in the pasture are likely to experience injury at a higher rate than that.

[trotman]

Appy,

The frequency of breakdowns I believe are up on dirt tracks yet down on poly but the fact of the matter is still, when the measuring stick is all about the money and fame, both horse and jockeys lives amount to nothing IMO and it sickens me.

[wilbur porter]

Thanks again to Trotman for keeping everyone up on the shadowy side of the sport. While I am no longer handicapping, I try to keep up a little on the real news in horse racing. Johnny Velazquez is a class act who has been very prone to injury the last few years. I would hope that he follows Gary Stevens' example and " ride selective mounts".
I am and have always been very troubled by the rampant abuse of horses. I was a nurse of sorts at one time. Everyone in the business knows of the abuse and mismanagement of medications, and like horse racing, so much revolves around making that dollar no matter what.
You mention Navarro and Gill. There were rumors about the trainer at Parx and the another at Tampa. The regal California circuit may not be far removed from this abuse either. There were accusations made against the big trainer at Golden Gate Fields. I happen to enjoy the Los Angeles circuit but there's absolutely no way the California State Racing Board is doing their job...protecting the horses.
They'll have a big production and show with their hearings for some of their top jockeys and their "substance abuse" for "their protection". You can often find the minutes for these meetings on the internet and their display of love and honor for their jockeys - Gomez, Tyler Baze, Valenzuela, E Flores, etc. Every now and then a trainer will be given a minor slap on the wrist. But let's be real. Bob Baffert may be a great trainer, but look at his record. I have a daily compilation of his races going back the last ten years and I've got news for the stewards and commisioners. "He was not winning six figure stake races every week". But at least he didn't send his horses to the east for the spring derbys and then suddenly withdraw them at the last moment for injuries near drug testing time.
In 2003 Baffert won 14 six figure stake races. He won 14 six figure stake races this year in the first 3 months of 2013. You mentioned the high figure (19.4%), that is Baffert's percentage of the sudden deaths in California horses from November 2011 through March of 2013, which by the way correlates with a three million dollar surge in Baffert's yearly earnings beginning in 2011, from $11,103,463 in 2010 to $14,104,834 in 2011, a 27% increase in one year. The 2011 figure has been passed twice since then.
I am not saying that Mr. Baffert and the others are innocent of any wrongdoing. Perhaps the fault lies in the systematic overuse of drugs and the failure of local and state authorities to really regulate the industry with the regulations that are in place. But I think that idea is too naive. In my own mind I sometimes compare the horse racing industry to the medical industry. What would people say if they really knew what went on behind closed doors?

[Appy]

I've never run on poly so I have no way of forming an opinion in that regard.
We ARE making slow progress on the drug front (excluding Oklahoma and south), but it is excruciatingly slow. After all, those areas also tend to favor equine slaughter.

[trotman]

Wilbur,

For what ever reasons you decided to get out, no qualms from me, to each it's own. My single point is that horse racing is about in many cases false glorification and many will get hurt for the sake of that mighty dollar. Half if not more were ****ting mustard, or were a thought back when, and now they have arrived they set the sport on their ears with what they have accomplished, BS as the old movie North Dallas 40 depicted better football through drugs, the racing fraternity took this literally and run with it

[wilbur porter]

Dear Trotman,
Do you think the use of the ****ting mustard is a contributing cause of the declining winning payout over the years (if indeed the average has declined - "For The Lead" would have the stats on that I'm sure), as for example in Tampa Bay Downs when a "dominator" trainer races a horse that pays out $3.20 to win?
You're absolutely right. I agree that this sport is much about hype and self glorification. It seems that the self aggrandizing courtiers (much like the politicians and Wall Street execs) are literally sucking the blood out of the average handicappers, trainers, the average jockey (because the aggrandizers have their favorite jockeys) and the horses as well. The free market is certainly not working in this sport. The actions of the "dominators" may well lead to the demise of the sport.
I still enjoy the sport. I watch the races regularly. But there is no way that I can sit down and enjoy watching the "thirty percenters" dominate their races, drive down the payoffs, and smirk in front of the cameras in the winners circle while injured jockeys like Michael Martinez and Rene Douglas struggle financially to pay for their lifetime injuries and John Q Public wonders why he can't seem to make a profit. The actions of these "individuals" may well lead to the demise of the sport. One of these days there will be a horse who breaks Barry Bonds' home run record and the sport will still not be cleaned up, Congressional investigation notwithstanding.
Sorry, but I get carried away. I am no longer actively handicapping but I really enjoy this site. Ted has done a fantastic job developing the software and maintaining impeccable standards in the forum. I continue to learn from many of the posts and assimilate the info into rehashing old races on RDSS. Yes, "Track Profiles" and "Decision Models" work! And I never disect races with the "thirty percenter" trainers.