Replying to Daniel Perlsweig:
I agree horses used to run more times when I started training in 1954. --Dandy Dan.

HELLO STEVE.REMEMBER "LADY PIT"..47 10 14 5 $413,382

WON THE MOTHER GOOSE,CCA OAKS,DELAWARE OAKS, ALABAMA

JUST TO MENTION A FEW

#2 You wouldn't believe me any way.

Replying to Richard Santulli:
Shouldn't we consider that two of the greatest sources of racing success trace back to Danzig and Mr.Prospector--clearly two unsound horses. In addition,the hottest sire of the last 15 years was Storm Cat--and the excuse when evaluating a yearling with offset knees was, "He's a Storm Cat." When we breed to unsoundness, is it a surprise we get unsoundness?

No problem in today's world; we'll get the good (and ethical?) vet to straighten those legs right out...then sell him of course.

There is another possible factor to horses not starting as 2 yr olds; they simply aren't sound enough.

Replying to Tom V. David, DVM:
There appear to be three major issues that need to be considered when evaluating the current problems facing the racing industry. Breeding, track surfaces and medication are on everyone’s agenda of issues that must be addressed if our sport is to survive, much less prosper. We can no longer sit idly by and assume that public perception is not reality. Breeding for the auction market rather than for soundness, buying for speed rather than longevity and medicating up to race time to alleviate problems brought on by this rationale has our industry on a downward spiral that must be reversed. Was it the breeder of the unsound horse or the veterinarian who tried to keep the horse racing sound with the use of medication? I can’t answer the chicken or the egg question but I do feel that the first and easiest solution is to address the medication. Changes in breeding and research on the optimum track surface will take years to accomplish the desired end result. Medication can be changed overnight. Horses are racing today on more medication than any time in the past and are having shorter careers, higher vet bills and more dissatisfied owners. Illegal drugs are not the problem--it’s the so called legal therapeutic medications that are over used and abused. Our allowable levels of therapeutic medications on race day make it extremely difficult to determine the health and soundness of the animal when a pre-race exam is conducted. Inflamed joints, muscles and mild lameness are masked by medication and therefore undetectable to the examining veterinarian. These problems may be minor until the horse leaves the starting gate but become major by the time they reach the turn for home and down the stretch, putting both horse and rider at risk. We keep many horses racing under the influence of medication that should be retired prior to their career- ending injuries. How can the breeder judge the potential of a sire or dam when performance was influenced with medication? How does track surface research factor in medication? Having raced with so called therapeutic medication for some thirty years, I now believe we have developed a culture and a breed that is medication dependent.

We are a breed ourselves that is medication dependent. From time immemorial performance has been fueled. The higher the level of performance, the higher the fuel.

Changes in breeding and research on the optimum track surface will take years to accomplish the desired end result. Medication can be changed overnight. Horses are racing today on more medication than any time in the past and are having shorter careers, higher vet bills and more dissatisfied owners.

Illegal drugs are not the problem--it’s the so called legal therapeutic medications that are over used and abused. Our allowable levels of therapeutic medications on race day make it extremely difficult to determine the health and soundness of the animal when a pre-race exam is conducted. Inflamed joints, muscles and mild lameness are masked by medication and therefore undetectable to the examining veterinarian. These problems may be minor until the horse leaves the starting gate but become major by the time they reach the turn for home and down the stretch, putting both horse and rider at risk.

We keep many horses racing under the influence of medication that should be retired prior to their career- ending injuries. How can the breeder judge the potential of a sire or dam when performance was influenced with medication?

How does track surface research factor in medication? Having raced with so called therapeutic medication for some thirty years, I now believe we have developed a culture and a breed that is medication dependent.