Parameters: Horse Racing Depends On Type Of Track Surface?

Source: HorseFund

There is no doubt that the sport of horse racing is dependent completely on the gambling industry on which the industry sits.  Without the gambling industry, the sport would be completely dead.  With that being said, each gain in speed on part of each horse can be the difference between a huge win and a huge loss.  Therefore, the horse racing industry is very careful to examine all of the relevant parameters on which a victory (horse winning) depends.  Why do I bring this up?



Life is made up of parameters which make up equations.  Specifically, equations are made up of parameters -- which define the relevant aspects of the equation.  For instance "y = x" is an equation which relates a parameter "y" to another parameter "x".  Equations can be written in terms of more parameters -- for instance -- "y = x + z + m" -- where the parameter "y" is dependent on three parameters "x", "z", and "m".



This is not to confuse you but instead, to reduce the complexity of the idea of an equation.  In the future, when I say that the following parameters are important, you will understand by realizing that I am speaking in terms of placing importance on ideas or quantities related to a topic.



Why do I carry on about all of these equations for life, etc.?



In a recent article in "The New Yorker" titled "Puerto Rico’s Ortiz Brothers Light Up Horse Racing" the author walks us through the unlikely success of two Puerto Rican brothers who have risen up to be stars in the horse jockey profession.



Near the end of the article, a significant paragraph with regard to success in the horse racing industry is displayed.  The parameter which is extremely important is 'dirt' on which the horses run on the track.  Here is the excerpt:

n turning a royal pastime into a profitable business, the founders of tracks like Saratoga and Churchill Downs democratized the sport, but they also planted the seeds of horse racing’s slow demise. Many of the ills of racing in this country can be blamed on the overcommercialization of the sport, beginning with the dirt surfaces themselves. Kings’ races took place on turf—that is, grass—which is the animal’s natural running surface, and most big European races are still run on turf (as are some U.S. races). But you can’t run ten races a day, six days a week, as tracks here often do, on turf—it turns to dirt quickly. Besides, the developers of the sport in the U.S. didn’t have the grassy pastures of the royal estates to work with: they hewed the tracks out of the forests.

Running in deep dirt puts additional strain on the horses’ hearts, lungs, and limbs, especially when it’s muddy. That’s one reason that far more horses suffer catastrophic breakdowns on American tracks than on European ones, which drives casual fans away from the sport. Fifteen horses died at the Saratoga meet this summer, eight in races and seven while training. Some attributed this dismal statistic to the dirt track’s being too deep.

Which brings on the use of large amounts of drugs to treat injuries to the horse:

 There is a pharmacopoeia of legal drugs in the U.S. that Thoroughbreds receive to treat the effects of the wear and tear of racing, such as phenylbutazone, an anti-inflammatory, and furosemide, a diuretic used for pulmonary bleeding. Then, there are illegal drugs, which have become harder to detect. There is no central racing commissioner’s office, and as a result there is no way to set testing standards for drugs, or to effectively penalize doping; state racing commissions make their own rules, and often doping goes unpunished. The Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act, a bill that would grant the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency the power to regulate drugs in American horse racing as it does in other sports, has been before the House since 2013. “Racing has to come to grips with the fact that, like every sport, we have integrity issues,” Stuart Janney, of the Jockey Club, told me. “Drugs do get into our sport, they are more sophisticated, they are harder to detect, and they are more effective than they were in the past, and our method of policing our sport is out of date.”

The above excerpts lay out parameters on which the success of a horse depend upon.  From the standpoint of a horse owner, the differences in the parameters stated above -- i.e. frequency of racing (numbers of races per day), type of track (turf vs. dirt), and the degree of cheating (doping, etc.) -- can carry large benefits (in terms of monetary) returns (winning).  Of course, from the perspective of a track owner or regulator, the parameters pose a challenge to overcome to have a 'fair race' each run.



Why are different perspectives important?



Scientist get a bad rap in terms of being labeled 'emotionless', 'serious', 'boring' people.  When in fact, scientists are typically everything but these descriptors -- alright, we are a serious group of people.  Typically, scientists look at life through the lens of equations.  That is not to say that each of us only speak in terms of equations.  Although, when asked to discuss a certain aspect of life (i.e. horse racing), typically my mind defaults to looking at the relevant parameters which make up horse racing to get a better perspective before commenting in on a discussion.  Why is this?



Because, in order to solve a problem in life, one must be able to inspect the relevant 'parameters' on which the problem depend upon.  An activity such as 'baking' can be made up of many complicated 'parameters' (i.e. type of flour used - for the rise of bread, method of mixing ingredients, length of mixing, types of ingredients used, etc.).  A chef could carry on at length about the various parameters.



Conclusion...



The point of the 'parameters' series is to point out a few parameters about a given observation to the reader (you).  At that point, you may decide on the length of investigation into the matter.  Or may simply decide that the information provided is enough to get a better satisfaction when at the horse racing track into the future.  Nevertheless, the process of parametric analysis (i.e. assigning parameters) to a phenomena is an important gift to build in life.   I promise that after reading this post you will never see horse racing in the same light again.  Cheers!


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