Scratch the Itch!

Helping blue hen mare Case Closed itch her scratch!

In the early days of PF when entries were submitted by email, stables were allowed to put pretty much anything down as a scratch condition - ranging from SCRATCH IF NO to SCRATCH IF MORE THAN 4 RUNNERS so Laurie would have a nightmare running races trying to keep up with all the various requests.

So after a little debate and an executive decision, we went down to two options - SCRATCH IF NO or SCRATCH IF OK.  On the surface (pardon the pun!) that doesnt look like that much difference but that small nuance has scuppered many a potential champion.

If you start with each horse’s AR you can immediately see that choosing either OK or NO for a surface fussy horse could end up with a lightly raced animal taking up a stall that could be used for a sturdier beast.  Some horses also have extremes - disliking hard dirt but loving soft turf or vice versa which can make entries a nightmare.  

On the other hand you could simply ignore the scratch conditions and let the horse run no matter what - which could lead to major injury downtime. Its a much riskier option but can pay off if you are clever and play the entry system well by checking back at the last minute to see the other entries - if there are two entries and one has a scratch condition it could pay to enter another runner as worst case scenario you would finish 3rd for a potentially large purse (esp in French turf races which have a tendency to come up soft!)

What stables may not realise is that the track dislike can also refer to the track itself, so for example they run like donkeys at Churchill downs but set track records at Shendandoah Downs!  Nice on the CV but not so good if you want to aim for Triple Crowns or Breeders Cup.

Speaking personally, I have a horse called Baker Street and whilst he is no world beater he is a nice reliable runner.  This year for example he has had 5 runs and for 4 he rated as “OK” for Likes Track but posted PSRs of 100/89/98/98 for these with 1 win, 1 2nd and 2 4ths so if I had put in SCRATCH IF OK he would have been pulled out.  Three tracks were Fast with one Slow. In his most recent start though he rated “YES” to the track and came 2nd with a 104 PSR.  

Going back further, one of my best mares Case Closed  had terrible surface preferences but did set WR/TR with a NO! for tracks so its just a matter of being brave and taking the chance. Some stables have automatic pilot when it comes to entries and ALL their runners have scratch conditions but others just run regardless - its a personal choice! 

The moral here is to not only take into account whether a horse likes to splash through the mud or give the jockey a bone rattling ride on concrete, but check their records on particular tracks and leave off the scratch conditions for a few runs to test them out.