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I don’t think that is a fair comparison. Although I think the idea of paying them for a qualifying drive isn’t right if they get the drive for purse money, they are risking their livelihood if they go down in a qualifying race. I don’t like the idea because I’m so used to drivers who just drive and shut up. These guys today aren’t half the drivers or horsemen of yesteryear.
Exactly! I had one of the primadonas drive a horse into the fence after the mile because she was hot behind the gate! There were 3ft slide marks on the track he was going so fast. The horse was sore behind afterwards and it ended up being a torn suspensory! He had about 375k lifetime and was set to make 100k for the 3rd year in a row! Never made another start! Had I known that it was my last trip to the track, I would have busted his teeth when he look forward after hanging the lines up! These guys have ego and attitudes because when they drive stupid and don't apologize, nobody speaks up!
This story could use some names
They really don’t want to drive qualifiers for free anymore. They are asking all tracks to bill the owners $50 for a qualifying drive to stop trainers from putting them in to qualify if they aren’t ready to go. This should be interesting.
I’m m guessing you are talking about Hoosier. There and Illinois are the only places i know of where the drivers get paid for not getting a check in a race. On the east coast they only get paid if you do.
Thats fine they can charge $50 per qua drive. Just negotiate drivers get 2.5% of purses won. They have zero overhead in maintaining the horse.
Ya know Jigglin Jesus charged 10 bucks for each TT back in the day. His wife sat there with a note book and collected cash. I started giving drivers who Q'd for me 10 or 20 bucks. They didn't pick off my horses very often.