Poly Prepping

[The Bid]

I wonder what the trainers who prepped over the polytrack think about it now? I would say its a no brainer... to run on dirt you prep over the dirt.

[Cajungator26]

Originally Posted by The Bid

I wonder what the trainers who prepped over the polytrack think about it now? I would say its a no brainer... to run on dirt you prep over the dirt.

Hmmm...

Last time I checked, the horses that finished 1-2 had their last prep over the polytrack. If you're talking about training over dirt before a dirt race, I'd have to say that I probably agree with you... a work over the race surface certainly didn't hurt Street Sense or Hard Spun.

[paisjpq]

3 out of the top 5 had their final prep races on the poly...

[sumitas]

Why is that ? Hard Spun prepped over poly.

[declansharbor]

Originally Posted by The Bid

I wonder what the trainers who prepped over the polytrack think about it now? I would say its a no brainer... to run on dirt you prep over the dirt.

Sounds like the logical thing to do, but as said before the top runners prepped mostly on the poly...There goes that argument..

[jjf1031]

But I believe top five finishers all had final work over Churchill strip

[ArlJim78]

Originally Posted by The Bid

I wonder what the trainers who prepped over the polytrack think about it now? I would say its a no brainer... to run on dirt you prep over the dirt.

Oh yeah this makes tons of sense.
Of course as you are well aware, there were two standout performances in the derby, Street Sense and Hard Spun. Street Sense had his final derby prep on the poly in the Blue Grass. Hard Spun ran his final prep on the poly at Turfway in the Lanes End. My guess is that both trainers have no problem with poly given the results on Saturday.

It is total folly on your part to keep looking for the big poly fiasco.

[Cajungator26]

Originally Posted by ArlJim78

Oh yeah this makes tons of sense.
Of course as you are well aware, there were two standout performances in the derby, Street Sense and Hard Spun. Street Sense had his final derby prep on the poly in the Blue Grass. Hard Spun ran his final prep on the poly at Turfway in the Lanes End. My guess is that both trainers have no problem with poly given the results on Saturday.

It is total folly on your part to keep looking for the big poly fiasco.

I'm fairly certain he's talking about horses who trained over the Churchill surface before running the Derby. Obviously, he didn't word it correctly.

Horses that had their final work over the CD surface include Street Sense, Hard Spun, Curlin, Imawildandcrazyguy, Sedgefield, Sam P., Zanjero, Dominican, Storm in May, Teuflesberg and Bwana Bull. (I may be missing a few, but those are the ones I remember.)

It seems that having a final work over the surface assisted the first 5 finishers unless it's coincidental.

[paisjpq]

Originally Posted by Cajungator26

I'm fairly certain he's talking about horses who trained over the Churchill surface before running the Derby. Obviously, he didn't word it correctly.

Horses that had their final work over the CD surface include Street Sense, Hard Spun, Curlin, Imawildandcrazyguy, Sedgefield, Sam P., Zanjero, Dominican, Storm in May, Teuflesberg and Bwana Bull. (I may be missing a few, but those are the ones I remember.)

It seems that having a final work over the surface assisted the first 5 finishers unless it's coincidental.

obviously though the argument can be made that this is no different from any other time when it is beneficial to work over the track where the race is held...regardless of surface.

[Cajungator26]

Originally Posted by paisjpq

obviously though the argument can be made that this is no different from any other time when it is beneficial to work over the track where the race is held...regardless of surface.

Agreed... makes complete sense to do that.

[ArlJim78]

Originally Posted by paisjpq

obviously though the argument can be made that this is no different from any other time when it is beneficial to work over the track where the race is held...regardless of surface.

precisely, its been done on dirt tracks as long as I can remember. Some trainers do it, some don't. Some horses need it, others don't.

[Bobby Fischer]

you obviously need to have a trainer or jockey with a southern accent to be in the derby exacta.

[10 pnt move up]

Originally Posted by The Bid

I wonder what the trainers who prepped over the polytrack think about it now? I would say its a no brainer... to run on dirt you prep over the dirt.

then maybe they are saying to prep for the derby you Run on Poly, ie street sense, hard spun, sedgefield

[Bobby Fischer]

its a unique situation for each horse.

Street Sense could have prepped anywhere. It was just a matter of not being too muddy, Pletcher not smashing him with cowtown cat at the break, and then not getting cut off or sent 10 wide on his late run. - No advantage


Hard Spun - he has some major turf in his pedigree and the lanesEnd set up like a dream prep. His action was nice over the polytrack and he flys over it. The race was cheap enough for him to dominate, but fast enough early to properly prepare him. It was a good spot after the southwest, and it didn't hurt that he loved the surface and could concentrate on simply re-establishing his form.

Sedgefield - He never ran on dirt so it was either turf or synthetic , and his last race prior to the derby was turf - no big deal.

Dominican - It helped me for him to run in the bluegrass because it gave the illusion that he could get 10 furlongs.

Zanjero - not a big deal he closes anyway

Great Hunter - possibly hurt him, because he got taken out of the action part of the race and didn't get anything from the prep.

Tueflesberg - should have helped general form because he Prado did so well to rate in the bluegrass , but you need to be a contender first before you worry about little details

[Danzig]

perhaps the good ones can run over either or....but unlike hard spun, does street sense actually have a win over poly?

the danzig line only strengthened, a tri-surface sire! hard spun will be worth his weight in gold.

[PeteMugg]

Or maybe two quality horses managed to find the short way around in a race that was adding distance. Love to see a trackus on this one.

[King Glorious]

I've always said that if I had a horse pointing to the BC Classic, I would make his final prep be in one of the 8f grass races like the Oak Tree Mile, Shadwell, or Kelso. Those kinds of races are run strongly enough to help your horse get the conditioning he needs. Take some edge off, get some conditioning, and more importantly, it's more forgiving than running in one of those traditional dirt preps. Poly isn't grass but it seems that they play similar.

[Kasept]

Note the difference in Hard Spun's work at KEE.. 1 mile.. not 4 or 5f.. Larry Jones said that work was important because he needed the colt to get something out of it with what was going to be a 6 week break between Turfway and Churchill. He said Saturday night that Hard Spun came out of that work 'blowing pretty good for 15 minutes', and that he knew he had gotten what he wanted.. He then sharpened Hard Spun's speed with the :57.3 blowout over the race surface.

There will certainly be future Derby winners that make the Lane's End and/or Blue Grass their final preps and work up to the race at KEE. But that winner will have been trained with the adjustments required to reach and maintain the appropriate fitness level required to perform to maximum capacity in the Derby, each horse's first attempt at 10f... (Something the guy with 5 horses fails to comprehend.)