Wind Question for TG Crew

[richiebee]

The wind is blowing very hard here on Staten Island and the National Weather Service says there is a 22 mph wind at Ozone Park. I am assuming that this reading is not for Aqueduct.

At some point in the future, could you share with us: What wind measurements were recorded by your track crew for this particular day at AQ? Were the readings taken prior to each race?

And without disclosing anything of a proprietary nature, could you share with us if it was determined that the wind was strong enough to affect the days racing, and if so, what effect the wind had on the making of the figures for this particular day?

[TGJB]

Richie-- remind me of this on Tuesday. It will depend on direction, but 22 mph would have a significant effect from some directions, at some distances (one turn, or 2 turns with a long run to the first one, like 1 1/4 miles).

In general though, the inner track layout-- no 1 turn chute races over 6f, lots of 2 turn races-- is one where wind effects are minimal. Big effects come from  winds blowing towards or away from the stands in 1 turn races, where it either helps or hurts them around the turn, with no offset.

[richiebee]

TGJB:

    You asked me to remind you about the effect of the wind in terms of figure making for last Friday\'s card. In your response you mentioned that generally the wind would have a more pronounced effect on one turn races at Aq -- there were 5 one turn races on Friday\'s card.

    There was also a question within a question.. how many times during the racing day is the force and direction of the wind measured by TG\'s trackman?

[TGJB]

The trackman looks at the flags right before every race. On that day he had the wind at 12:00 all day (blowing directly across the track, away from the grandstand), and estimated it as ranging from 13 to 17 mph. At it\'s peak (17) it affected one of the 6f races by right around a point, according to the formula we use. But again, look at all the estimates involved-- direction and speed can be slightly off (and are taken before, not during the race), there can be gusts, there\'s a building there that can easily be shielding parts of the track or causing currents, especially with the wind coming from that dirtection. We\'re just trying to get into the ballpark, and we are making race-to race corrections anyway.

[zorro]

The effects of wind or drafting is huge........but it\'s more important to look at running style than trying all the measurements.