A Bit About Track Bias (Dirt)

A week or so ago there was a thread asking what a float was and how/why is it used? With apologies to the few veterans who will find this redundant, I thought i would expand on that topic.

I guess it was Davidowitz in his epic tome "Betting Thoroughbreds" who first wrote that if you did not take into consideration track surface, profits would not be attainable. In the three decades since, many have opined a variety of theories, concepts and conclusions about track bias, all having at least a modicum of acceptance, but none refuting his tenet. One has to look no further than ten weeks ago when the Breeders Cup was ran at Churchill Downs and many handicappers thought (incorrectly) that an inside bias existed. True the rail horse won four times, but the only bias that day, occurred in the Classic, but that is another story.

I should state that I am no expert in agronomy, but can empirically contribute that a basic understanding of track maintenance can lead a handicapper to the right horse, at the right price.

Dirt, dirt and more dirt aside the maintenance of a race track is hard work! As an example of a track, take your hands, put them straight so that the fingertips touch and the fingers of each hand are parallel. Then slowly push them together. Bring your hands to eye level noticing the tips of the fingers stick up higher than the knuckles. This, is very primitive and quite exaggerated, but nevertheless mimics the shape of a race track. All tracks are crowned in the center, as are all football fields! Why? To promote drainage from rainfall.

To shorten this post, if that's possible, let's assume that it is the end of May, at Churchill Downs, mid-morning and the first rain in a week or so is imminent. Further assume the track is in perfect shape, and a soft rain starts falling at noon. Track superintendent Butch Lehr will be monitoring the surface carefully and at some point will "float" the track. A float, is a weighted piece of steel probably some ten feet across. It is attached by chain, to a tractor and dragged across the racing surface. Most weigh a couple of tons and cost some $10,000. The purpose; to compress the three-inch top layer (cushion) and the underlying three-inch base*. Why? So the rain runs off to the sides (remember the track is cambered) and not be absorbed into the surface itself. The track will stay compressed or "sealed" until the rain subsides, which may take a day or two. How should cappers play a sealed track? Cautiously. Cappers know most horses detest the surface as they bring some 5,000 pounds per square inch at impact and it is almost certainly uneven to them, appears a mirror and the bottom is hard to detect. Jockeys have even more disdain but that is another matter. If pressed, or I had to play, I would downgrade the chances of both the inside and the outside horses, give horses that have won on a sealed surface extra scrutiny and play horses being bet.

As the track dries out, the water on the crown drains off and eventually evaporates. At this point the track is being harrowed (raked) with the intent to get the surface back to normal or fair! The inside or rail, may still have standing water while the outside is muddy. The best traction is the rail and cappers should look there, all else being equal.

Perhaps a race or two later, the sun comes out and the crown begins to dry while the rail is now muddy... huge advantage outside! How long does it last? A card or two at the longest. Then the track super wants to return the track to a fair (unbiased) surface. Some of the topsoil (dirt) or "cushion" has gravitated from the crown, towards the rail and needs to be moved back to the crown. Bring on the scraper blade and move the top layer of dirt from the rail to the crown... big advantage inside horses.

This circular process occurs at all tracks, poly excluded, and yields some predictable performances at outstanding odds. Be aware tracks listed as: fast, slow, muddy, good etc. are sometimes contested on a sealed track. A hybrid agronomist/handicapper would want to know the moisture content, particle size and organic makeup and would probably excel at picking winners!!

In conclusion, track surfaces are quirky and unique. The Fairgrounds features a long, long stretch, while cross state Delta Downs is often regarded as a bullring with a stretch half as long. Most cappers do not realize that the Delta stretch is WIDER than the Fairgrounds!

Both Belmont and Churchill can get extremely rapid, the former from rain, the latter from humidity. It is mostly due to the sand and clay content respectively. In fact, Churchill will often add as much as twenty thousand gallons of water EACH day!

Lastly sorry for the length. On the turf the bias is much more pronounced and much more difficult to discern. BBB



*There is much more to track composition but most tracks have a surface of 3" cushion then 3" base.