“Racing industry prepared for third safety summit” plus 1 more

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Racing industry prepared for third safety summit Posted: 26 Jun 2010 04:29 PM PDT (2 of 3) Nonetheless, Nicholson said he hopes more safety and welfare efforts will gain momentum from this week's meeting. "This safety business and welfare is a journey and it's a never-ending journey," he said. "Wherever you are, you have to get better." Both the injury reporting database and a recent racetrack surfaces laboratory that came out of the second summit are areas that could benefit from more attention, Nicholson said. "Neither one of those two should be looked on as a finished product. Both of those are just starting." Other issues that could be discussed this week include continuing education for trainers. Nicholson said that's an area of interest to him as well as expanding the injury reporting database to include people, particularly jockeys. The safety summits, sponsored by the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, can point to successes, but there have been ideas that had to be retooled or never caught on. Recommendations from the 2006 summit included developing an on-track injury reporting system for horses and humans, determining which bloodlines produced the soundest horses and reconsidering the use of a controversial cleat-like horseshoe called a toe grab. The recommendations on the toe grabs were based on research from the 1990s that linked the shoes to fatal injuries. The early research "was just resisted by the industry," said Ed Bowen, president of the research foundation. But, Bowen said, the 2006 meeting helped convince industry participants that the cleat, which was intended to help traction, stops the natural slide of a horse's hoof and increases leg strain and the odds of a fatal injury. Now 19 states have restricted or banned them while the change has been adopted as a track rule elsewhere, he said. But one abandoned idea was an attempt to create a way to predict the durability of sires' offspring by combining several statistics into an index number. Instead, selected statistics are offered that rank stallions based on the average number of starts per foal and the percentage of foals who actually run in a race. Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Horse racing: P.G. Johnson is undoubtedly a Hall of Fame Posted: 26 Jun 2010 08:38 PM PDT By MICHAEL VEITCH The Saratogian This is carrying things a bit too far.|A recent lengthy critical review of the Hall of Fame in DRF Weekend suggested that trainer P.G. Johnson is not a worthy member. Really? Criticism of the thoroughbred Hall of Fame, an adjunct of the National Museum of Racing, is an annual affair each spring. I have been a member of the Hall of Fame nominating committee since the late 1980s, as well as a member of the Historic Review Committee since its founding several years ago. I also served as a trustee of the National Museum of Racing for nearly 20 years. The institution is fair game for critics, and I am sure many of my fellow committee members welcome the input. But questioning Johnson's credentials with two paragraphs, one of which was a negative assessment of a single sentence, is an injustice. For starters, P.G. Johnson, who died in 2004, won eight training titles on the New York Racing Association circuit, the toughest in the nation during his career. He garnered four at Belmont, three at Aqueduct, and one at Saratoga. Johnson won those honors over contemporaries named Scotty Schulhofer, Angel Penna, Allen Jerkens, Woody Stephens, Shug McGaughey and Mack Miller. All of whom are Hall of Fame trainers. One of his many career highlights includes an incomprehensible winning streak. During 1978-79, Johnson entered and won 12 consecutive stakes races. His list of victories in races of the absolute highest class defined his career, which ran for 60 years from 1944 until his death in 2004. He sent out Amen II to win the 12-furlong Hollywood Derby in 1973, who six weeks later captured the 12-furlong Lawrence Realization at Belmont Park. On July 1, 1978, at Arlington Park he saddled Nasty and Bold to win the 10-furlong American Derby, who three weeks later won the 12-furlong Brooklyn Handicap at Belmont over older horses. Ms. Eloise, a daughter of Nasty and Bold, won the Top Flight and Shuvee for Johnson in 1987. The following summer he captured the Monmouth Oaks, followed by the prestigious Alabama Stakes, with Maplejinsky. Johnson won the Coaching Club American Oaks and Gazelle in 1993 with High Schemes. In 1994 he won his second Flower Bowl with Far Out Beast. And for his family he sent out Volponi to captured the Breeders' Cup Classic in 2002. Others on the list of elite stakes won by Johnson include the Manhattan (1981), Man o War (1982), Sword Dancer (1995). This does not include the dozens and dozens of Grade II and Grade III wins on the NYRA circuit. Major health problems compromised the last few years of Johnson's career, but he continued on and added to yet another of his amazing streaks. In 2003 he won a race at Saratoga for the 36th consecutive year. That year, the last full year he trained, Johnson stood at 23rd on the list of lifetime earnings among trainers, with $47,162,500. That statistic speaks volumes about Johnson's skill, for he made that money without handling the mega-stables of today's money leaders. Through 2003, he saddled 13,987 horses, finishing in the top three 5,899 times, meaning he picked up a check for his owners 42 percent of the time over a 60-year career. P.G. Johnson loved his family and loved his profession, and excelled at both in Hall of Fame style. Coming Wednesday A profile of young local horseman Bill Hickey. Michael Veitch writes about horse racing on Wednesday and Sunday in The Saratogian. He may be reached at patelin@nycap.rr.com. Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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