Santa Anita Surface for the BC
 

Any thoughts on the surface? I am interested to hear what some of you think about the surface at santa anita. I am not a SHILL of any kind for synthetics or dirt for that matter. I am just curious.

I came in to the BC not liking synthetics at all. Unlike EVERYONE else on this board, i lost money on BC day;) . I still came away pleasantly surprised about how fairly the track played and how logical (if not always predictable) the results were.

I am now ducking and covering my head because i know what the prevailing feeling about synthetics is from many handicappers...particularly those on this board.

I love it....and as an FYI, they messed with the track right before the BC Sprint. They didn't touch the track all weekend and then right before the sprint they had the tractors out on it......

I don't know what they did but I didn't like seeing those boneheads playing with my karma :)

I think the first thing I learned is not all synthetics are the same. To say there are three surfaces; dirt, synthetic, and grass is misleading as there's different types of each.

I don't mind synthetic and now that Keeneland has had it for a while, I know how to play it, just like any surface.

Once I got a grip on how the proride played (Hard to win on the lead) I capped accordingly and did very well.

My 2 cents

Spyder

I actually enjoyed watching and wagering on the BC this past weekend TONS more than I originally anticipated I would. The main thing that I was intent on was not to change my wagering strategy. 80-85% of my plays on normal days are horizontal, so I stuck with that

I think it basically proved to be an alternative TURF course, if you look at the results.

People will see that no horses broke down and love the stuff... eventhough if the races were held on a good, safe, dirt track.. the breakdown results would probably have been the same as on the Con-Ride.

It works well in handicapping as you can throw out horses who have good dirt form - but that sucks for real good dirt horses who wanted to be crowned champion but ended up having to run on fake turf.

I hope next year that ZERO dirt horses go to the breeders cup. That would make me smile :)

Overall, I lost $5.50 on the day, and I used that 5.50 to buy a form. I'm glad I didnt bet the races except for the Juvi Turf (boys) cause that Euro that won looked real good before that race at those odds...

hmmmm...so i take it that this is not an endorsement for Pro Ride:p

I guess I'm just more of a fan of watching good dirt runners run on a dirt surface... and not have 14 Breeders Cup races run all on Turf.

It will be interesting to see how Stardom Bound takes to real dirt (if they ever run her on it).

I thought the only legit "dirt" horses to win on the "dirt" this weekend was Zenyetta.. who may be a monster on any surface, and Midnight Lute (but it sucks that race wasnt on real dirt to see how Fabulous Strike could have done - I have a feeling he's better than Fatal Bullet:rolleyes: ).

On the plane back I was looking at the results and my losing tickets, I noticed that about 80% of my losing tickets were vertical, I was betting $12 to win $15-$20, bad bad Tom.....Vertical is NOW GONE from my wagering arsenal, unless I like a horse that is 10/1 or better.

See...thats me too. I spent some some stupid $20 win bets chasing some N2L turf sprinters at Belmont:o

I am opposite. Pick 4's killed me yet again. I found my share of short priced winners though.

Over the 2 days, I played 4 different pick 4 tickets, and didn't hit any of them. I have found that the pick 3 works best for my preferred wagering strategy.

Eventhough I thought 14 races were a little much (dont think they need marathon, dirt mile and turf sprint), I really didnt mind Friday being "Ladies Day" as much as I thought I would...

I think if you think you have some singles, then you can construct some good horizontal bets, but you have to take a stand. Luckily I used Stardom Bound, Zenyatta, Midnight Luke as 3 key singles over the two days and made out OK in pick threes.

I wonder why:p

Why are you so sure about Midshipmen?

I'm so sick of this statement. It couldn't be more misleading. It wasn't logical in that the best horses were the winners. It was logical in that any horse that had shown prior good form on synthetics or on grass were logical to be considered the best horses for these races. It's not a coincidence that only four horses that had won a stakes race on real dirt (Indian Blessing, Cocoa Beach, Midnight Lute, and Zenyatta) were part of the exacta from eight main track races. And each of those four had also won on synthetics or on turf. This is not a coincidence.

I think this is dead right. To be honest, if anybody seemed like a single in that race, it was Street Boss once Cost of Freedom was scratched. I was there on Pat O'Brien day and couldn't get that awful race out of my mind.

I probably would have been doing that also but there was no OUT OF STATE simulcasting available, could only bet Oak Tree and Golden Gate, and I can PROUDLY say I placed ZERO DOLLARS at Golden Gate.

I agree also and trust me it cost me, I had a bunch of things tied to Street Boss and only a few to Midnight Lute. I am glad I was alive to what I was alive to because I wanted to put $300 on Street Boss but my live tickets afforded me the same action, with me keeping money in my pocket to waste on Madeo