JohnTChance Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Trainer Michael Dickinson responded to Steven
> Christ's recent Racing Form column "Tread Lightly
> On Polytrack" by writing a letter to the editor
> that was published in last Sunday's Racing Form.
> In his response, Dickinson defended Polytrack as a
> great innovation of modern technology, yadda yadda
> yadda. Then Dickinson stated:
>
> "On another front, we are very surprised to read
> that some bettors do not like synthetic surfaces
> because it deprives them of so-called advantages
> of betting on sloppy, muddy tracks, or tracks with
> a bias. That they put their own selfish interest
> above the safety of the horse and rider defies
> belief."
>
> Dear Mr. Dickinson:
>
> In 1996, the Hong Kong Jockey Club banned your
> horse, DA HOSS, from running overseas because he
> failed the steroid ban there, and DA HOSS was sent
> home. When DA HOSS was injected, did you have the
> safety of the horse and rider in mind? How about
> the betting public? Did you have THEM in mind?
> You're a hypocrite.
>
> How 'bout when you ran that horse owned by Mark
> Hopkins on a sloppy track at Charlestown... and
> he broke down and died? Did you have that horse's
> safety in mind when you raced him on the sloppy
> track that day? You're a hypocrite.
>
> How 'bout when you raced in those steeplechase
> races at Cheltenham with the huge fences with
> puddles underneath, and every year one or two of
> those horses who competed died? Did you have the
> horse's safety in mind those times? You're a
> hypocrite.
>
> Finally, on NYC-OTB Channel 71, either last year
> or the year before, you came on to be interviewed
> about your horse running at The Fair Grounds that
> afternoon. You told the audience that your horse
> needed a race and you cautioned anyone about
> betting him. Yet he destroyed the field and won,
> wrapped up! In addition to being a hypocrite, are
> you a bad handicapper? Stupid?
>
> JohnTChance

What do you think the real story is John? Does he have that god forsaken surface at his maryland facility and wants the benefit of his horses training over it running upon it? Is a a shill for Poly surface? Or just in serious need of a headline, because good horses are eluding him?

That surface is ridiculous. They need to install a sandier surface with a good drainage system rather than poly dust.