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General Category => Ask the Experts => Topic started by: heatherk on December 23, 2010, 02:51:50 PM

Title: Dogs?
Post by: heatherk on December 23, 2010, 02:51:50 PM
Question: When the dogs are moved out on turf(rail position moved out), do the horses run further than the listed distance of the race or is the starting position adjusted? I\'m not sure dogs is the proper term.
Title: Re: Dogs
Post by: Sandreadis on December 23, 2010, 10:19:59 PM
A (d) following the \"H\" \"B\" or \"D\" indicates the horse was working well out on the track or \"around the dogs\" (pylons set up on the track to keep horses off the rail). Times for workouts around the dogs are generally slower than those for regular works, simply because the horse must cover more ground around the turns.


 Perhaps the most difficult aspect of creating Moss Pace Figures for turf races is the varying way the races are timed when the portable rail is moved around. Some tracks have different electronic timing beams for each \"about\" distance in an attempt to maintain some sort of timing continuity, but the majority of tracks don\'t. As a result, a grass race that would go in :24 and :48 when the rail is in its original position might go :25.3 and :50 when the rail is moved 20 feet out. And I\'ve seen some tracks that still hand-time \"about\" races.
Title: Re: Dogs
Post by: heatherk on December 24, 2010, 06:44:17 AM
thanks,very interesting.