Three types of horses?

[todko]

Looking at the first couple races at Churchill today has me wondering again about the future of horse racing. Mainly, will there be three type of horses -- horses that excel on the dirt, horses that thrive on the turf, and horses that are masterful on the poly?

I play Turfway a lot (I live about 45 minutes away)and I've often heard people say that it's a low level track and that's why dirt form doesn't hold on poly. If it was a higher level track then dirt form would hold. Keeneland absolutely proved that this wasn't true. Even the very best horses prefer a certain type of surface -- Keeneland made this more obvious than ever. There is no higher level meet than Keeneland. Sure, Barbaro could excel on both turf and dirt (sloppy or dry) but such horses are clearly the exception.

I'm more convinced than ever that just like we talk about "turf horses" we'll soon be talking about "poly horses".

If you've ever seen poly up close you would see that it's totally different from dirt. It's so much softer that maybe even hoof size would affect how well a horse runs on it. Just like hoof size affects how well horses run on yielding or soft turf.

It may indeed affect the breeding of horses down the road. I feel that racing has really opened Pandora's box at this point.

I made money at the Keeneland meet. Did very well, but I should have from playing Turfway and tracking the Kentucky circuit for years. Now, I'm really leery of going back to the dirt at CD. A lot of people I handicap with won't tough the artificial surfaces. They simply quit playing it.

The last thing racing needs is for changes to drive handicappers away.

I'm not going to let it drive me away. It's just another angle to figure out. Maybe horses that do well on turf will carry that form on Poly. I figure it's going to take a couple of seasons maybe to really gauge it. Since you've had some experience with it at Turfway, maybe you can clue me in on something. Does it seem to play any differently depending on the weather? Or is it pretty consistent regardless of conditions?

[todko]

Originally Posted by sirbarton

I'm not going to let it drive me away. It's just another angle to figure out. Maybe horses that do well on turf will carry that form on Poly. I figure it's going to take a couple of seasons maybe to really gauge it. Since you've had some experience with it at Turfway, maybe you can clue me in on something. Does it seem to play any differently depending on the weather? Or is it pretty consistent regardless of conditions?

Weather definitely affects it. It even sounds different when wet. Speed tends to hold slightly more. And the poly is slightly different at Keeneland than at Turfway.

I don't think it will ever be as consistent as they originally had planned. Throw in Cushion Track, Tapeta, and whoever else and we'll be playing many different types of artificial surfaces.

I really believe that it may drive handicappers away in the long run.