My smoke and mirrors from wind rant

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Both the Wood Memorial card and Florida Derby day were run on days with reported extremely heavy wind.

And on both days .. you didn't exactly need to be a weather man to know which way the wind was blowing. A simple look at the extremely deceptive raw fractions throughout both cards would be all it would take.

Haskin on Dunkirk in the Bloodhorse yesterday:

but he still provided the single most memorable moment with the exception of I Want Revenge’s Wood Memorial. That was his :34 3/5 three-eighths run from the five-eighths pole to the quarter pole, in which he rattled off eighths in :11 3/5, :11 3/5, and :11 2/5.

If Dunkirk ran eights of 11 3/5, 11 3/5ths, and 11 2/5ths ... I assume that must mean that the hapless 88/1 longshot Stately Charchter ran eights of 11 3/5ths, 11 4/5ths, and 11 3/5ths.

Here is why I call Stately Charchter hapless ...




Doesn't exactly give good form now does he?


Here he is trailing Dunkirk by a little more than a length at the 5/8ths pole...





And here he is trailing Dunkirk by just a few at the quarter pole....




And if both Dunkirk and Stately Charchter ... with their heroic 34 and change far turn moves and all ... were both so disadvantaged by race dynamics and a speed biased race track ... how do you explain them both running double digit new career tops on Beyer figures?

All of the other horses in the race except Dunkirk and SC were up on the pace - and all of them went backwards on figures.

As for the smoke and mirrors with fractions on Wood Day...

The Wood Memorial featured a seemingly slow early pace with a half mile in 48.13 - but by comparison - older Grade 3 males ran a half in 50.69 at the same distance one race earlier. A pace a mere 15 lengths slower than the 3yo's in the Wood.