|
|
 |
|
#1
08-28-2007, 07:56 PM
|
|||
|
|||
If Beyer writes a new book on synthetic surfaces.....
some possible titles are:
"1:16 and a cloud of Polydust" "Kickback and greenbacks" "The Winning Random Horseplayer" "Beyer on One-Paced" "The Magic Carpet ride" "The most exciting 2:07 in sports" "How to win on routes on the lead on Poly" (a VERY small book) 
|
|
#4
08-28-2007, 08:24 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
forget the books, I have figured out a solution for those that don't like polytrack. it really took a lot of thought, but i think i've got the answer. let me know what you think. it just might work.
Albuquerque Aqueduct Arapahoe Park Assiniboia Downs Atlantic City Bay Meadows Belmont Park Beulah Park Blue Ribbon Downs Calder Race Course Canterbury Park Charles Town Churchill Downs Colonial Downs Delta Downs Delaware Park Ellis Park Emerald Downs Evangeline Downs Fair Grounds Fair Meadows Fairmount Park Fairplex Park Ferndale Finger Lakes Fonner Park Fort Erie Fresno Fair Golden Gate Fields Great Lakes Downs Gulfstream Park Hastings Park Hawthorne Hollywood Park Hoosier Park Horsemen's Park Indiana Downs Kentucky Downs Les Bois Park Lone Star Park Los Alamitos Louisiana Downs Marquis Downs Meadowlands Monmouth Park Mountaineer Park Northlands Park Oaklawn Park Penn National Philadelphia Park Pimlico Playfair Pleasanton Portland Meadows Prairie Meadows Remington Park Retama Park Rillito Park River Downs Ruidoso Downs Sacramento Sam Houston Santa Anita Santa Rosa Saratoga Solano Stockton Suffolk Downs Sunland Park SunRay Park Tampa Bay Downs Thistledown Turf Paradise Woodlands Yavapai Downs
|
|
#5
08-28-2007, 08:38 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
I totally agree that there are a lot of other options out there. But many casual players used to look forward to boutique meets like Del Mar and Keeneland. My handle this year at Del Mar has been 5% of what it has been in previous years. I know I can adjust or play elsewhere, but I'd rather not bet on a 3500 claimer at Yavapai, Ferndale or Finger Lakes and I am actually headed to Del Mar for the Labor Day weekend and I am sure I'll be betting almost as much as I did last year there. Sure there are other options.. but the best option would be to bet on Del Mar with a conventional dirt track. The CHRB rushed to a judgement and made a horrible decision.
|
|
#6
08-28-2007, 08:40 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
Yeah vavy. Racing at its finest. The order they are in after the first 3f is basically the order of finish. Look out thar. 3.20 payouts rolling in. Dont need no rubber sand to create any possibilty of looking at a race in a new way. Might have to think differently and that hurts me head.
|
|
#7
08-28-2007, 08:42 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
That takes out Hollywood, Golden Gate, Bay Meadows, Santa Anita not to mention Presque Isle. And how many wagering outlets take Blue Ribbon, Assiniboa, Playfair, Les Bois, Fair Meadows, Rilto, Woodlands et al? Horseman's Park, Atlantic City and KY Downs run a couple days a year. Then toss in the fact that CDI/Magna lock out their signal from other betting services and NYRA is locked out of a few others. That list certainly shrank awfully quick. I hope to God it doesn't keep on shrinking.
|
|
#8
08-28-2007, 08:49 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
Brisbet's Saturday menu: It's ugly with Del Mar, ARL ( POLY ) and 'toga ( NYRA ) taken out of the equation.. making Calder the only playable track to me 12:25 PM Philadelphia Park* 12:45 PM Delaware Park* 12:45 PM Suffolk Downs 12:50 PM Calder (TO) 1:05 PM Ohio 7 & 7 1:05 PM Timonium 1:10 PM Woodbine - POLY 1:40 PM Ellis Park 2:00 PM Arlington Park - POLY 2:25 PM Louisiana Downs* 3:00 PM Northlands Park 3:00 PM Ruidoso Downs (TO)* 4:10 PM Yavapai Downs 4:25 PM Hastings Park* 4:45 PM Bay Meadows 5:00 PM Canterbury Park* 5:00 PM Del Mar (TO) - POLY 5:00 PM Emerald Downs (TO)* 5:30 PM Presque Isle* - POLY?? 6:30 PM Great Lakes Downs 7:00 PM Mountaineer Park* 7:00 PM Sam Houston 7:15 PM Charles Town* 7:30 PM Prairie Meadows* 7:30 PM Remington Park 8:00 PM Assiniboia 10:00 PM Australia
|
|
#9
08-28-2007, 08:56 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
not everyone is throwing in the towel. http://www.navycompass.com/news/newsview.asp?c=223739
|
|
#10
08-28-2007, 11:07 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
I'm not saying tracks like Dmr or AP are lying, but of people I talk to, nobody is increasing their handle on these tracks. No, not everyone has quit betting them and they still card grass races. But I wonder where all this new handle is coming from.
BTW, is it a coincidence that Arlington started running 1 1/16 mile races this year? They know their track is speed killing but running 2 turn races with a short run to the turn and a 700 foot stretch run does everything but hand the race on a silver platter to speed. In the past 20 years before 2007, I bet they ran a total of about 10 races at that distance. A week and a half ago they ran 6 in one day. If those races were run at a mile, the so-called even distribution of speed/stalk/closers wins would be lobsided.
|
|
#11
08-28-2007, 11:35 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
The first of Douglas’s win quartet came in the fifth race of the afternoon when he rode Hugh Robertson and Ron Bandy’s Smack Daddy to a track-record performance of :56.51 for the five-furlong distance. That record was set over Arlington’s new Polytrack surface during a race that was originally scheduled for the grass but taken off due to turf conditions. However, the time also eclipsed Arlington’s old main track mark partially held by Shecky Greene – a nationally-known sprinter of another era.
__________________
"Have the clean racing people run any ads explaining that giving a horse a Starbucks and a chocolate poppyseed muffin for breakfast would likely result in a ten year suspension for the trainer?" - Dr. Andrew Roberts
|
|
#12
08-28-2007, 11:42 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
" ... Del Mar shows a 3.1% gain in its on-track handle ... Overall handle figures are even stronger, reflecting a 5.8% increase. The daily all-source handle jumped from $12,295,760 to $13,009,606." " Keeneland ... total wagering to a record $158,368,308 during Keeneland’s 2007 spring race meeting .... The all-sources handle figure ... a more than 10% increase over the previous record of $143,479,802 set last spring. Total wagering averaged a record $10,557,887 per day, breaking last year’s record of $9,565,320. Field size averaged 9.5 horses this spring versus 8.09 . Polytrack races also averaged 9.5 starters per race, up 21.4% from last spring. Keeneland realized substantial increases in interstate commingled wagering, which rose 14% to $125,952,284 compared to last year’s record of $110,401,486. Average daily interstate handle of $8,396,819 also topped 2006’s record level of $7,360,099. " " After completing its second holiday meet run over a Polytrack surface in 2006, Turfway Park reported a healthy 7.5% increase in on-track wagering and an 18.7% jump in all-source handle. During the 25-day stand (Nov. 26-Dec. 31) the amount wagered on Turfway races by patrons at the track totaled $3,479,946. Handle on Turfway races from all sources reached $88,224,228. It was the fourth consecutive end-of-meet reporting period for the Florence, Ky., track to show increases in both categories and double-digit hikes in all-sources handle. The holiday meet is the last of Turfway's three annual stands. Taking all three meets together, Turfway enjoyed double-digit increases in both on-track and all-sources handle in 2006. On-track handle for the year rose 13.5% over 2005 to $15,558,289, while all-sources wagering rose 41.3% to $345,128,726. Total purses paid in 2006 increased 5.5% to $16,368,342. Field size across the year held steady at 8.8 starters per race. " "Woodbine's all-source handle fell 8.6% in 2006, but a rebound in wagering and field size after installation of an all-weather main track has officials for the Woodbine Entertainment Group looking forward to next year. An "all-sources" total of $333,489,534 was wagered during the 162-day meet, which began April 1 and ended Dec. 10, compared to the $364,750,930 recorded in 2005. "We had a slow start to the year, but after Polytrack was installed we really noticed an improvement in our key numbers like handle and field size," said Sean Pinsonneault, Woodbine Entertainment's vice president of wagering services. "We have some momentum going into 2007." Woodbine became the first track in Canada and second in North America to install Polytrack, a synthetic racing surface which provides a soft cushion for horse and rider. Racing over Polytrack was presented for the first time on Aug. 30. To accommodate the conversion of the main track to Polytrack, Thoroughbred racing was conducted over a dirt-covered Standardbred racing oval for 29 dates, from July 8 to Aug. 27. Total handle after the Polytrack installation was a strong $157,445,000, compared to $151,152,000 in 2005, an increase of 4.2%. Average field size at Woodbine was 8.6 horses per race this year, up from 8.5 in 2005. During the Polytrack portion of the meet, 9.2 horses were carded per race, compared to 8.5 last year, an increase of 8.2%." "The Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company (OBS) Friday announced that it is converting its one-mile racetrack to an all-weather SAFETRACK surface. Manufactured by Andrews Bowen, Ltd., the new surface will be ready for the 2008 juvenile selling season. OBS conducts four sales of 2-year-olds in training each year in Central Florida, with select sales in February and March and open sales in April and June. The track is also utilized for most of the rest of the year as a public training center, with many of the area’s horsemen taking advantage of the facility. And there is one day of racing in February. Keeneland, which has Polytrack, earlier this year became the first auction firm in North America to conduct workouts for a sale of 2-year-olds in training over a synthetic surface. OBS will be the second. "
__________________
"Have the clean racing people run any ads explaining that giving a horse a Starbucks and a chocolate poppyseed muffin for breakfast would likely result in a ten year suspension for the trainer?" - Dr. Andrew Roberts
|
|
#13
08-29-2007, 02:12 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Saratoga's handle gains have been stronger than Del Mar's....
And, no one cares about five furlong track records. I'm surprised you forgot to tout that multiple horses have ran a quarter mile in a world record 20 1/5th over polytrack...which happened at KEE April last year. Polytrack is a faster surface than dirt if you just want to sprint all-out for very short distances. However, horses can't stay a distance on it without jogging away the early stages and struggling through the late stages.
|
|
#14
08-29-2007, 03:04 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#15
08-29-2007, 03:43 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
It's not so much the comically slow times as it is watching horses struggle with an absurd surface that makes the races look dull and boring.
Because some Euro ran a track record 2:01 and change doesn't mean he'd have won this year's Pacific Classic by six seconds -- or about a 33 length margin that the time difference indicates. If they are going to run on that stuff -- they should make the sprint races two or three furlongs....the middle distance races about 5 furlongs tops...and the classic distance races about 7 furlongs. If they do that, I have no problem with the surface....other than I think it's bad for history to dramatically shorten up the distances of all the major prestige races....just to make them watchable. Toss in an occasional 8.5 furlong marathon from time-to-time. Having to watch horses race 10 furlongs over a poly surface like the one Del Mar has was cruel and unusual punishment.
|
|
#18
08-29-2007, 09:08 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
I am not sure why everyone is so pissed about Polytrack.
Did the people who sold the industry on Poly lie about it never needing to be adjusted or maintained? Yes, but I do not know too many salesman that dont lie to make a sale, do you? Is it safe? overwhelmingly it has been at Del Mar. Are the field sizes larger? yes. Are the slow fractional and final times hard to swallow, yes, but I don't care how slow they go if I have the correct numbers on my ticket, I am happy!! I enjoy the fact that the big black bold number(Beyer) in the Daily Racing Form is not the gospel any longer, it actually has made handicapping fun again for me. I can only watch so many main track 3-5 shots at Monmouth, Saratoga, and Calder... give me some VALUE!!! Is handicapping harder, Yes!!(especially if you are a buyer into the Beyer speed figures) And with that, we are seeing a lot better payouts. Personally, I would rather struggle to hit just a couple tickets a day and walk away big in the black that what it used to be, hit numerous tickets and barely be even, or even a loser. I am not claiming to be an expert/professional handicapper, anyone who does is a liar IMO. Not one person can simply bet horses for a living and survive in the long run. They either have a supplemental source of income, made money elsewhere before getting into betting, received an inheritance, or are living off of someone else. I play roughly 30 races a week. For the most part, my betting strategy is worse than my handicapping, I think we all suffer from that problem.
|
|
#19
08-29-2007, 09:43 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
The bad thing about polytrack is the aesthetics.
It's junk. Its bushleague. I hate seeing the brilliant dirt horses removed from Classic distance racing. I hate seeing some 12 furlong turf horse win the Breeders Cup Classic, while the next Cigar is all out to finish fourth. The good thing about polytrack is that everyone still bets the next Cigar, and if you key a few of the turf horses, with a lot of coverage, you can get a $5,000 trifecta. (eventually, when that temporary advantage wears out... )
|
|
#20
08-29-2007, 10:59 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
when will we see the Breeders Cup classic run on polytrack? (reminder polytrack is installed at Turfway, Woodbine, Keeneland, Arlington, and DelMar)
|
Linear Mode
