13 vet scratches on one card

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Cree
Eclipse Champion
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Joined: Thu Jan 27, 2005 2:34 pm

13 vet scratches on one card

Postby Cree » Sun Oct 11, 2015 5:57 pm

13 vet scratches seems fairly high to me on one card. I got to thinking...

Hastings Park is in its last few weekends of racing for 2015. They just introduced a reward system for owners of "cheap" horses. The horse must make its last start of 2015 at Hastings for a claiming price of $6250 or less, and over winter without any starts elsewhere, come back and race their first race of 2016 at Hastings for $6250 or less. I am assuming this is to incentivize owning cheap horses, giving them a break, not getting rid of them, and filling cards.

Seems fair, but I am curious if this leads to entering horses that have been racing all year (and need a break now) to drop into some cheap races at the end of this season, to get that last start before winter?

Maybe it's just overthinking, but I found it strange there were 13 vet scratches today. Of those, 8 of them were entered for under $6250. I am also curious if some of those scratches will end up running on the last 2 weekends (17th/18th and 24th/25th).

kimberley mine
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Joined: Tue Jan 11, 2005 8:43 pm

Re: 13 vet scratches on one card

Postby kimberley mine » Mon Oct 12, 2015 7:38 am

I suppose it's what those vet scratches were based on.

If there's a virus running around the track and a lot of those horses had a fever or the snots, I can easily see 13 vet scratches on a card. Or, as you said, there's an accumulation of ouchies over the course of the season.