Nice call on Student Council.
I couldn\'t bet the race, choosing instead to take my Graded lumps in the Alabama.
The interesting phenomena with Poly is how certain running styles are enhanced by it, while others are severely compromised. In that regard its a wonderful illustration of \"action bias\". That said, its far too unpredictable in regard to which horse is going to get over it well on any particular day.
>The interesting phenomena with Poly is how certain running styles are enhanced by it, while others are severely compromised. In that regard its a wonderful illustration of \"action bias\". <
Personally, I think it helps PROVE that changes in track surfaces can favor certain running styles because of the way horses with certain styles tend to distribute their energy etc...
According to Steve Davidowitz,large horses that are plodders/grinders fair poorly. He thinks visual observation of the horses moving over DelMar surface gives him a \"handle\" on which ones like it.Have not watched close enough except to note that \"quick\" type front runners do very poorly and outside paths seem better.
Fastest 6f sprint of the meet, something like 1.11 and change which tells you something. Exhaustion levels much greater on the horses but horses coming out sounder than dirt, according to trainers.Del Mar will definitely tweak for next year, imo.
Mike
>According to Steve Davidowitz,large horses that are plodders/grinders fair poorly. <
This is pretty interesting because it\'s pretty clear that the more brilliant horses that are typically on or near the lead are having a problem going long.
It also doesn\'t seem to me that the horses are running exactly like turfers where \"late brilliance\" is often rewarded.
So what are we suggesting here?
Do they all hate it and it\'s just a matter of who hates it least? ;-)
Seriously, it seems to me it\'s like a cross between turf and dirt. So if it\'s not even paced horses with some stamina that are doing best, I\'d like to know who he thinks is.
Fkach,
From the UK and here.Horses that like to power or blast thru a dirt surface do poorly on poly whereas horse that like to run on top of a surface or skip over it, like grass runners, do much better.There is no doubt that on poly, turf horses are outrunning horses they could never compete with on dirt.
An idea floating in NY is a cloned surface that gives synthetic benefits but acts like conventional dirt for racing. How that is remotely possible escapes me.At the very least, the Del Mar surface has given a pause to the racing community\'s rush to install or at least test more and adjust.
Mike
From DRF, Pacific Classic winner Student Council received a weak 99 Beyer which most importantly confirms that the winner still gets $600k. A shrewd purchase.I like when a plan comes together.
Mike