Tried to send you a pm but your box is full, so here goes, but first some background.

About 25 years ago I worked at Claiborne farm and my total daily duties were to arrive at 7:00 am sharp, feed my thirteen barren/maiden mares, clean the barn, then wait until 3:30 pm and put the mares back in the barn.

One very cold day after the blacksmith came, the last mare in the field would not move. The blacksmith had cut her too short and her feet were badly bruised. I opened the gate, stood behind her and cracked her with my shank a few times and finally she made it to the barn. From that day on she was always the last mare in the field and I always put her up without a shank! Although not relevant, her name was Smart Angle and she was 2yo champion filly in the late seventies.

One afternoon, a few months later, Smart Angle and a huge mare named Lady Godiva were all that were left to put up, and a soft rain had been falling all day. I decided to put them up together, as I saw an old timer do it a few days earlier. I got Smart Angle by the halter, and was reaching for Lady Godiva, but I hooked the shank clip on the leather of the halter, not the ring itself. When I gave a solid tug to get 'Godiva to move the clip came flying at me, and hit Smart Angle squarely on her rib cage.

You guessed it! Two loose mares. Fortunately, or so I foolishly thought, they were at least trapped in about a half acre compound with the barn in the center. This barn unlike any of the other thirty or so on the 3,000 acre farm, had stalls that opened on the outside, anotherwords all the horses saw the loose two, and did they enjoy the show. Godiva and Smart Angle gallivanted around for some ten minutes or so, until I got some sweet feed and got them put up. Left for the day.

The next morning, upon entering the farm, Gus Koch now the farm manager informed me I would have company; meaning clean up the mares and the area etc. When I got to my barn, I could not believe the carnage. There was mud everywhere! The previously pristine grass was in total tatters. Luckily the company never showed, and, I learned about the turf rail.

Almost all turf courses utilize a moveable turf rail. I play the midwest tracks and will use Churchill for an example. The three settings are; hedge (no rail up) out 15 feet and out 22 feet. Note: The distance of the race does not change, no matter where the rail is. Note: unless there is an asterisk* after the distance, but that is another story.

When on the hedge, more of the race is run on a straight, favoring closers. These heats have a faster pace AND the closers lose less ground. Conversely, when the rail is out, more of the race is run on turns, featuring slower fractions AND the closers losing ground. Most people want some statistics to validate this tenet, but I refuse to take the time even though I have the data. A good guess would be; for 2006 there were 60 two-turn races run off the hedge at Churchill. From memory there were exactly 3 wire to wire winners! With the turf rail out at CD, in 2006, there were about 55 heats and speed won maybe 39 of them!!! Keeping track of the turf rail is a simple way to pick winners and few cappers do, and MANY do not even know about it!!!!! BBB