Polyhater...

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

It's my gut feeling that the overuse of medications (illegal and more often legal) have had the biggest impact on why horses aren't nearly as sound as they should be.

I would think someone who has some analytical powers would see the fallicy of this weakminded, simplistic argument.

[Antitrust32]

Originally Posted by philcski

Lori the Arlington race was a mile and an eighth as well, they don't run a mile and a sixteenth at Arlington (it's a 9F oval, like Saratoga, so the gate would be like 30 yards from the turn).

Oh, in the Bloodhorse it said 1 1/16th... so I went with it!

http://racing.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=39770

"The final time for the 1 1/16-mile Round Table was 1:49 3/5 on the Polytrack."

[Antitrust32]

Originally Posted by Antitrust32

Oh, in the Bloodhorse it said 1 1/16th... so I went with it!

http://racing.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=39770

"The final time for the 1 1/16-mile Round Table was 1:49 3/5 on the Polytrack."

I just checked equibase and it is 1 1/8th.... I thought it wasnt possible for stakes horses to run so slow, I'm glad it was just a bloodhorse error!

[classhandicapper]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

All of these major races run over the artifical surfaces have looked like eyesores to me.

Just ugly looking races.

I guess if you like watching slow-paced races, with bunched up fields, and horses racing fairly erratically it might be for you. It's about as entertaining as watching pacers without sulkys.

There is something very beautiful when watching an awesome performance, by a top class horse, in a truly run dirt race.

After I make any notes I need, I tape over these major synthetic races because they are tremendously unenjoyable to watch.

The only two from this year that I know I still have kept tape of are the Blue Grass and Hollywood Gold Cup. Obviously two painfully ugly races to watch, but I had to keep the one because it represented the deepest field in a Derby prep, and the other one because it represented Lava Man's 3rd straight Gold Cup.

Watching Domincan rally wide into the teeth of disgracefully slow fractions, to nab Street Sense, is almost unbearable.

The Hollywood Gold Cup might have been even harder to watch....with Ap Xcellent (who's never won on anything but cushion track) losing to Lava Man by a nose, with a stoutly closing and moderate Big Booster flying at him.

The races are run like turf races, but horses don't close with those exciting late bursts like they do on turf. It's more of a steady grinding move.

If racing everywhere was switched from natural dirt surfaces, to artifical dirt surfaces, I would obviously still be involved in day-to-day betting and nothing like that would change.

But, there is no way I'd consider myself a fan of the sport anymore. I love true dirt racing, and have a video library with tapes of races from virtually every Graded Stakes winner this decade, virtually every Grade 1 winner through the 90's, virtually every champion to race from the 80's, and all of the top horses from the 70's.

I can only speak for myself, but I find polytrack racing to be tremendously boring and uninteresting. Even when you have a bet on the race, you still feel like you want to sleep away the first half of the race.

But hey, we all know how natural dirt is such a demanding and crippling surface.

You saved me a lot of time typing by expressing my thoughts exactly.

[Dunbar]

Originally Posted by Honu

I know , its highway robbery....... My bosses owners dont breed to him very often but we have had about 10 come thru the barn and they are a nightmare. When they gallop they dont bend their knee's , they always have throat issues and need myectomys and tie forward surguries which usually are a waste of time and money and their feet are often mal-conformed and dont match. Sometimes when they come in they are nice to be around but as soon as you start to put the pressure on them they melt mentally.
I dont care if I ever see another Storm Cat bred horse as long as I live , and whats worse are all the sons to him that are out there just throwing that crappy gene to more horses. Good example , Giants Causeway , every single one I have been around has been hard headed , extremely nervous , and not a good doer , they sweat and fret everyday and get so wound up that if they were human they would prolly commit suicide.

Thanks for that, Honu. Very interesting stuff.

--Dunbar

PS--Honu, I pulled an idiot stunt by getting fried at Hapuna on Wednesday while spending 3 hours riding an excellent shore break. Thinking of changing my handle to Aloe Man.

My guess is someone is just going to have to take a close look at the handle. If the tracks are making money because people are betting the poly, but the so called more estute cappers drop out, so be it. The betting public ultimately pays the purses. The betting public is one of the two entities that make this whole thing work.

Owners, breeders, trainers will also have to adjust accordingly also. If we have a bunch of large fields with lots of money coming in, get ready to learn how to cap it, and cap well. If they have made the sport into a crap shoot with the surface, then welcome to Las Vegas coming to your track with the sythetic surface.

This will be a very interesting wait and see. Especially with all the TC races on dirt. How exactly to prep. And as more of the major dirt handicap races go synth. and turn out to be successful from a handle perspective... very interesting future.

We will see who can stomach change.

[fpsoxfan]

Watching Domincan rally wide into the teeth of disgracefully slow fractions, to nab Street Sense, is almost unbearable.

Agreed Drugs...That race was the closest imitation to Harness Racing I've ever seen since following T-breds. It was the worst and most confusing race of the prep races. Poly sucks. I know, as handicappers we are supposed to make the adjustment, but I still hate it. If It ever reaches the entire NYRA circuit, I may retire from the game and take up a new addiction.

[Hickory Hill Hoff]

Originally Posted by fpsoxfan

Watching Domincan rally wide into the teeth of disgracefully slow fractions, to nab Street Sense, is almost unbearable.

Agreed Drugs...That race was the closest imitation to Harness Racing I've ever seen since following T-breds. It was the worst and most confusing race of the prep races. Poly sucks. I know, as handicappers we are supposed to make the adjustment, but I still hate it. If It ever reaches the entire NYRA circuit, I may retire from the game and take up a new addiction.

Best "non-quote" of the year!

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by fpsoxfan

Watching Domincan rally wide into the teeth of disgracefully slow fractions, to nab Street Sense, is almost unbearable.

Agreed Drugs...That race was the closest imitation to Harness Racing I've ever seen since following T-breds. It was the worst and most confusing race of the prep races. Poly sucks. I know, as handicappers we are supposed to make the adjustment, but I still hate it. If It ever reaches the entire NYRA circuit, I may retire from the game and take up a new addiction.

I've already started to do that with the Southern California races. I can count on two hands the total number of races I watched at the Hollywood meet and after day one of Del Mar, I refuse to watch that junk anymore. Maybe I'll watch the Pacific Classic but that's it. It's just not thoroughbred racing anymore. It's absolutely sad. From a betting perspective, it's still the same. U have a surface that u have to try to figure out who has the best chance of winning on that day. But from a fan perspective, it's trash. When u can't tell the difference between graded stakes horses and low level claimers because they run all of the races the same way, it's sad. Run 50 second half miles and claimers are able to finish with stakes horses. We saw that in the Blue Grass.