(no subject)

[alonewiththemoon]

I see in today's Bloodhorse weekly newsletter that two major tracks, Arlington and Del Mar, are installing Polytrack surfaces--that's a synthetic track material that is safer than dirt as it provides a much more consistent surface--and that donations to thoroughbred retirement programs are up in the wake of Barbaro's passing.  It would still be much better not to be racing two-year-olds at all, but resurfacing the tracks is definitely a step in the right direction.  I support Old Friends, a retirement program, generally through gift-purchasing, but I will make my own donation to them as well.

Lost starts up again tonight.  I am excited, though now with some reflection I was disappointed by the first bit of the season.  As long as I'm seeing sweaty passionate shirtless Sawyer...   what was I saying?  Oh, yeah, as long as he's on the screen I find I don't question plot too much, but in retrospect it was not awesome although there were some very cool bits.  I don't mind the very very slow reveal of the island's mysteries, but in exchange the producers ought to provide more ongoing storylines than just Jack-Kate-Sawyer, which is not super intrinsically interesting in and of itself apart from the ogling factor.

Hereos--I totally predicted the identity of Claire's father, but I didn't think they'd really go there.  Also, Wil Wheaton observed in his blog that the license plate of George Takai's character's car is NCC1701.  heh :-)

Comments

[eeyrg.livejournal.com]

I thought you might like this article :)

thanks!

[alonewiththemoon]

Wow, that's great! The Turfway statistics and the statement from the vet there are really encouraging.

Re: thanks!

[eeyrg.livejournal.com]

i thought you'd like that. i've ridden in a few arenas that use it as footing. it's interesting, that's for sure. its a large up front cost and still needs to be watered to keep dust down. the part that is tough in an arena is waste, its an expensive product to waste.

i'm mildly concerned about the horses inhaling rubber particulates but seeing as I own a former horse that had huge respiratory issues from stone dust, it can't be that bad. my horse ended up with scarring in his airway from severe infection due to stone dust on the track. :-/

Re: thanks!

[alonewiththemoon]

The Turfway vet said "The Polytrack material does not pass through to a horse’s lungs because the Polytrack particles are too large to reach past the pharynx. With a conventional surface, the dirt and sand are small enough to pass a horse’s pharynx and trachea, all the way to the lungs. Even if the Polytrack surface is ingested, it is not harmful to horses or humans. " So that's pretty cool.

Re: thanks!

[eeyrg.livejournal.com]

I know that's what it says but having ridden in an arena (which obviously, a closed space will behave differently than an entire track) it's pretty damn dusty AND smells like rubber. Not to be gross but blowing your nose after such a ride is rather ... disgusting. :)

I am curious what the reports will say in 5-10 years when more people use this. It's still pretty new and all. Time will tell.