The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Del Mar opened a few days ago featuring a new polytrack surface that, as always, promised safer and fairer racing. But, just to make sure we knew we were still betting on the same ole Del Mar the stewards have taken down an incredible amount of horses, and there is an inquiry almost every race. One particularly costly takedown for yours truly came on Friday night (a card which featured 5 DQ's, btw) when 12-1 Livia La VidaLoca was moved from third to fourth (and fourth place finisher Billie Bob was moved to fifth after an incident which occurred at the break. A cursory glance at the DRF chart suggests Livia La VidaLoca finished with interest while running third. Comical Vacation, who was placed third, "could not quite summon the necessary response" while finishing 3/4 length behind Livia. It should also be noted that Comical Vacation was almost two lengths clear of Livia as they entered the stretch. Basically, there was no way any reasonable bettor would have suggested Comical vacation deserved show money on Friday evening at Del Mar.

On the week Del Mar's stewards found it necessary to DQ nine horses, seven of which affected bet's on the races (i.e. involved top 4 finishers). Meanwhile, Belmont, Monmouth, and Arlington had zero combined DQ's for the entire week. So, is every infraction in major racing occurring in Southern California? Or are the stewards taking racing into their own hands much more than is necessary? I'll leave that up to you.