22.39 opening quarter going 8f at GP...

[Calzone Lord]

And by newly turned 3yo fillies in for a 15K claiming tag.

A 22.39 opening quarter in an 8f race at GP was a literal impossibility prior to this meet.

To quote Bob Dylan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCWdCKPtnYE (The Times, they are a Changin)

In regard to 8f races, GP added more run-up and less actual distance in 8f races prior to the start of this meet.

To give you an idea on how much a/effect it has been having ...

This Ones For Phil's first quarter-mile of 23.83 seconds actually wasn't so slow--through Mar. 1, it was the sixth-fastest
opening quarter of 71 one-mile races on dirt at the current
Gulfstream meeting.

The 3rd race today was not exactly This One For Phil being hounded by Quality Road through a blistering opening quarter of 23.83 seconds ...

It was 3 cheap young fillies, all in for a 15K tag, with 3 incredibly stupid jockeys (two of them bugs and one of them JV Bridgmohan) involved in a breakaway pace battle.

It was a classic meltdown ... in the field of 9, the 3 speeds in the early pace battle finished:

* 7th beaten only 34 lengths at 3/1 odds.

* 8th and Did not finish the race.

* 9th and did not finish the race.

http://www.equibase.com/static/chart...010613USA3.pdf

The winner won by 17 lengths while pulling away through a trotter like final quarter of 27.04 seconds. The rest of field was falling over.

Here is a video replay of this race in all of its glory:

http://www1.drf.com/displayVideo.do?...=D&country=USA


Obviously, this was a very psychotic pace for cheap young fillies, but the timing difference with 8f races at this meet compared to past meets has made it all the more humorous.