#Soundbites - Why are the average number of starts and field size declining annually?

Article by Bill Heller

The 2024 Jockey Club Fact Book showed that the average field size run in 2023 races was 7.40, down from 7.59. Thoroughbreds’ average number of starts also dipped from 6.01 to 5.87. Back in 1990, the average field size was 8.91 and the average number of starts 7.94. Why are the average number of starts and field size declining annually?

Todd Pletcher

I think the number starts, in a lot of cases, is management. I think over the years trainers have become more conservative about how many starts horses have with more time between races. More rules about when you can train your horses may be a factor. And the foal crop is having an absolute impact.

Dale Romans

That’s a good question. It’s above my pay grade. I’d say the reduction in foals every year. Also, it’s a lot more difficult to run a horse. More horses are scratched by veterinarians.

Barclay Tagg

The horses just aren’t as hardy as they used to be. Justify, he ran six times and he’s one of the leading sires in the country. And he didn’t start until his three-year-old season. You can’t do basic therapy anymore. These horses are athletes and you need to take care of them. You’ve got to be able to train your horses. They make it really hard. You can’t pinfire your horses’ shins. You can’t blister a horse any more. Horses don’t even feel that. It’s about the calmest thing you can do. They’ve got the wrong people making these decisions.

Wayne Catalano

It’s very simple. The foal crop has been down for a long time. It should be 40,000 (In 1990, it was 40,333; last year an estimated 17,200). Obviously, it’s going to catch up with us. Also, you’ve got the new ruling body. It’s a different game these days. You have people coming up that don’t know how to take care of horses.

Brian Lynch

Is it the foal crop? That would be my answer to that. There’s always concern that the tracks haven’t been the best. There have been more breakdowns than I’ve ever seen. More to the point, it’s the foal crop.

Mark Casse

I think it’s pretty simple. I run over a thousand starts a year. I have to enter over 3,500 times to do that. I would have 50 percent more starts if there were races for me. That tells you. I’m lucky because we have options. I can look at different tracks. But I can have 15 horses in my barn with no races for them.

When I first started, they didn’t publish every trainer’s statistics. They’re all worried about their percentages. Their horses stay in the barn. 

The other thing, in my opinion, the state programs have really hurt, and I’ll tell you why. Fifteen, maybe 20 years ago, I went to California, I never got a long maiden long race. The Cal-bred horses did. That’s another factor. 

Ron Ellis 

The truth is with HISA coming in and veterinary restrictions, we can’t run the horses as often as we used to. All the restrictions and all the veterinary requirements, including expensive scans we’re under now, are certainly one of the reasons. We have a lot more restrictions.

Karl Broberg

Golly, where do you begin? I was looking at the Fact Book last night, and what I was most concerned with was looking at foal crops by region. I began shaking my head. Every region is down. In the future, there’s only going to be racing in Kentucky and New York. It’s returning to the sport of kings. I think what’s missed, due to the economics, is that people are giving up on horses much quicker. That’s a huge factor. Also, there are fewer opportunities. 

Tom Proctor

Wow. You would need more than a sound bite. I’d be forever telling you why. I don’t have a say in how this business goes. There are people who win a zillion races and their opinions don’t matter.

#Soundbites - How closely do you follow your veterinarian’s advice if it conflicts with your gut feeling about your horse?

Article by Bill Heller

Bruce Brown

         That’s a good question. I usually have a good enough relationship with my vets. I really trust their judgment. It seems like nowadays there aren’t many vets who would do something you don’t want, something that you really don’t need, whatever it takes to get a horse in a race. That’s not in our game anymore. I have in my head what I think, but usually it matches well with my vets. 

Kelly Breen

I probably use a vet’s recommendation, maybe 85 percent of the time. I have gone against their recommendation because of my gut. Usually, my gut is the right answer. For sure, there are times when my gut is wrong. But sometimes the scientific answer is not always correct. Generally, the advice given from the vet is the textbook version, and not everything is textbook in horse racing.

Charlie Baker

Well, if it conflicts with my gut feeling, percentage wise, I would say 65 percent I’d follow the vet. It all depends on the situation. Is it one I’ve dealt with in the past? If so, I would use my experience, especially if it’s a younger vet, one fresh out of school. If I’m totally confident in my vet, I listen to him.

Carla Gaines

That’s a good question. You always want to do what’s best for the horse. You kind of have to go along with the veterinarian. These days, with just being way more cautious—not that it was irrelevant before—if you have a gut feeling that a horse is fine, you still do diagnostics to make sure your horse is fine.

Ian Wilkes

Ian Wilkes

You talk to him. Common sense prevails.

Burl McBride

  I stick with my gut feeling, but I do trust my vets because I can’t see an X-ray. I can’t see an ultrasound. I’m pretty opinionated. These horses will talk to you if you listen. 

Leonard Powell

A lot of times, I would use the vet for a sounding board. I’d really consider his opinion. Ninety-ninety percent of the time we come to a consensus.

Tom Proctor

I don’t ask a veterinarian for advice. I have a license. They have a license.

#Coronavirus Soundbites

By Bill Heller

We asked trainers how they are handling the coronavirus pandemic and what advice they have for getting through this ordeal

Todd Pletcher

We had to close down our Belmont division. There were workers with symptoms. They went to the clinic and were quarantined. More than anything, it was making it difficult to have a safe workplace. At that time, we thought there wasn’t going to be racing in New York for a while. We had 20 horses at Belmont. That normally would be the time we’d be sending horses to Belmont. We had to put that on hold.

We left it up to owners to decide what to do with their horses. Some went to their farms; a couple went to Fair Hill; some went to Ocala and some went to Palm Beach Downs. We did not move any workers [but] have about 100 horses at Palm Beach, a small string at Gulfstream Park [and] four at Oaklawn scheduled to run. We’ve been fortunate with Gulfstream being able to run. We’ve been able to keep some schedules. It’s juggling a lot of schedules. It’s trying times for everyone. We want to make sure to keep our horses and our employees healthy.

Current practices at Palm Beach?

We’re just going by the recommendations as to what the government is saying. Masks are optional. Some are wearing them; most are not. At Gulfstream, we’re just trying to use common sense, keep people from congregating, keep six feet apart. The one thing we are learning is that social distancing is working. We try to keep that policy in mind.

Planning ahead?

That’s something I have to work around. I’m a target-oriented trainer. I like pointing to specific spots. At Aqueduct, the condition book is in the garbage—Keeneland, too. These are unique times. You have to adjust on a daily basis. Everyone’s in the same boat. Everyone’s facing several challenges.

Suggestions?

Use common sense. Take care of your horses and your staff. In time, we’ll return to normalcy. Try to remain positive.

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Eoin Harty

It’s been no harder for me than everybody else. You worry about your family, in California and Europe. Every day you wake up, that’s the first thing on your mind. With horses, you have to take care of them every day. It would be a lot worse for me if we were home 24-7.

Eoin Harty

Precautions?

You can feel that tension in the air. I check every person in the barn; nobody’s coughing. Everyone is wearing gloves and masks—masks for sure around the barn. You don’t have to ask people twice.

Racing?

There’s been a lot of speculation about Santa Anita using Los Alamitos. I don’t know if it’s viable. I think we could be racing at Santa Anita again. The best case scenario is racing at the end of the month or in May. We haven’t had a single case on the racetrack. There hasn’t been a single one. That’s a good thing.

Personally?

I keep six feet away—don’t touch anything.

Suggestions?

Do what you have to do to protect yourself and your family. Right now, it’s common sense. Look out for your friends. Racing will take care of itself.

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Graham Motion

Graham Motion

My family is all home. My wife is trying to run the business from home. As far as the barn, we’re taking a lot of precautions. We have one person disinfecting everything first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening. He takes everybody’s temperature when they come in the morning. We’re trying to have employees not group up in the tack room. After a week or two, you have to remind them.

Six feet away?

We try to. It’s not totally realistic. You have to give a leg up. Most of the time with gloves. We try to do the best we can.

We’re going to try to get everybody to wear masks. We tried to order some. We have 100 employees all told at all the locations: Fair Hill, Palm Meadows. Normally, we would have pulled out from Palm Meadows for Keeneland, but now we’re staying at Palm Meadows.

Normally I train down there while my son, Chappy, goes to spring break. We got from Fair Hill to North Carolina. We planned to overnight in North Carolina. Once we got there, things were getting bad. We spent two nights in North Carolina, and we decided we’d rather be in Maryland. We went back to Fair Hill. It kind of reminded me of 9-11.

Advice for horsemen?

I think in general, the horsemen are lucky. We get to keep on doing what we do. The horses have to get out of their stalls. I think the unsettling part is not knowing when we’ll race again. We worry about our owners who are paying training fees every day. I’m worried about them. We have 60 horses at Fair Hill and 20 at Palm Meadows. I just brought in a few two-year-olds.

When new people come in, they stay away for two weeks. We’re trying to follow the guidelines.

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Tom Proctor

 I’m in a little better shape than most. Other than Gulfstream and Tampa Bay, I have horses at Oaklawn, and the rest are at Glen Hill Farm south of Ocala. Most of my horses are gathered up at Ocala. We probably got 25 in Ocala and a dozen are at Tampa Bay. I’m spending most of my time in Ocala.

Precautions?

We did have horses at the Fair Grounds. We kept those people from Fair Grounds separate for two weeks. We did get out of New Orleans pretty early—about the middle of March. 

Tom Proctor

In Ocala, gloves and masks?

Most of our people don’t leave the farm. We’re not really wearing masks. We’re washing our hands. The zip code we’re in hasn’t had a single case.

When you go to the track, do you take precautions?

I’ve stayed away from people—social distancing when I can. For a trainer, it’s easier than most. I check on the horses when nobody else is around.

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Tom Amoss

(Tom Amoss was exposed to the virus by being with New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton, who contracted the virus, at the Fair Grounds. Amoss self-quarantined for two weeks while continuing to work from home for TVG.)

Did you have the virus?

 I never really found out. When it happened, it wasn’t easy to test. I stayed at home for two weeks. Now I’m going to work every day. They really don’t want us up and around in New Orleans. I’m here at my barn every morning from 6-10. My routine is the same.

Protocols at Fair Grounds?

 That’s an evolving thing. Our temperature is taken when we come into the track. We’re not allowed in the buildings. Social distancing is a requirement. Fifty percent of the people on the backstretch are wearing masks. We’ve had zero issues in my barn, and none in other barns as well. There’s a reason for that. My help lives on the racetrack. They’re self-contained. There’s a grocery on the backstretch—Canseco’s. We’re the opposite of how New Orleans is doing. We have nothing bad in our barn. I haven’t heard of one case.

Suggestions for other horsemen?

It’s a tough question. Look, there’s a difference between our horses and the horses in California. Our horses are allowed to ship to Oaklawn. No people are shipped. I’ve got a barn up there. I’m blessed in the fact that I already have people there.

Stables?

Ever-changing. There are a lot of horses I have who race on grass. They have been sold or turned out. Other horses who don’t fit the condition and book at Oaklawn have been sold or turned out. We’ve down-sized about 20 percent.

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Linda Rice

Linda RIce

Handling this?

We’re doing very well. We’re being very careful on Long Island. We know New York City has a lot of cases. We’ve been using masks, gloves and social distancing. We’ve been doing that for three weeks now. We have a regular training schedule at Belmont. It’s good to have a routine. We’re happy to go to work every day. A lot of people are stuck at home. They can’t work. We can.

Response so far?

The help is doing great. Everyone is concerned. We watch the news. It scares the hell out of you. But it’s the old adage: the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man, or a woman.

What’s going on with racing in New York?

Aqueduct, obviously, is being used as a hospital. I think everyone here is under the impression that we’ll be racing at Belmont. It’s just a matter of when. We’re looking at June 1st. If it’s sooner than that, great.

Outlook?

The entire world is dealing with this. If there is small business assistance, that’s great if it can get processed. Unemployment for those out of work will help. We’re making sure of helping everyone on the backstretch who needs it. We’re making sure our horses and our people are safe.

#Soundbites - Would creating a uniform standard for drug testing horses be good or bad?

By Bill Heller

The Horse Racing Integrity Act currently before the U.S. Congress would create a uniform standard for drug testing horses that would be overseen by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. Would that be good or bad?

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Ralph Nicks

It would probably be good. It would level the playing field. We need standard medication rules.

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Rick Schosberg

The jury’s out. I think uniform medication rules are a good thing. Whether it’s the government’s job to do, I’m not sold on that. A lot of people have been working very hard in the industry to get all the jurisdictions on the same page without government intervention. But absolutely it’s important that it gets done. 

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Eoin Harty

I think it would be good. Anything that’s going to enhance the public perception of our industry would be good. I believe this is a step in the right direction. I think it’s very important to enhance confidence in our industry. I think it’s at an all-time low. Anything that would improve that is a good thing.

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Norm Casse

I’m all for uniform rules, but I’m not in favor of the government being involved. It doesn’t seem like it ever works. I think we’re an industry that should be able to regulate ourselves rather than have someone else do it.

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Tom Proctor

When is the government getting involved ever a good thing?

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Ian Wilkes

Bad. I don’t think we need Congress getting involved in our sport. I think our testing is very sophisticated now anyway. I think it’s quite good. Yes, we need uniform rules, but we don’t need Congress involved.

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Jim Bond

It would be bad, though the way it is now is chaos. It’s sad. Ninety-nine percent of the people in our business are good people. You can have all the rules in the world, but they don’t punish the people that have overstepped boundaries hard enough. Not 60 days or 90 days. Make it real. Put some teeth into it. But getting the government involved would not be good. It never seems to work.

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Tim Hills 

If it’s properly instituted, I think it would be good; but horsemen must be included on how it would be set up and how it would be implemented. The horsemen have to have a seat at the table. They would have to be included in setting guidelines. We must be included in how it’s written up. 

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Chris Englehart

I guess it all depends on what the rules were. You’re talking about uniform rules. That would be fine, unless the rules included banning Lasix. I wouldn’t be in support of that. Where would we race our bleeders? I think it would be a good thing to have uniform testing. In a lot of ways, it would be great.

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Tom Proctor: The horse listener

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FRANCES J. KARON (17 October 2011 - Issue Number: Issue 22)