Del Mar Racing Surface

[Silver Charm]

The new surface looks really good. The meet has been on going for long enough to observe and judge and they have really gotten it right.

As one of the many critics last year the racing was difficult to watch. Times were brutally slow and good horses were laboring to finish. But now the racing is much faster and the horse seem to be gliding over the surface.

With a year round circuit of Poly/Synthetic racing in Calif the handicapping is now not as difficult. This doesn\'t mean it is easy because of all the new angles Poly/Synthetic racing presents, similar to those on Dirt and Turf. Something that was probably underestimated when Poly/Synthetic racing was mandated because it was sold as a safer substitute for Dirt. It may be safer but it is not dirt racing. For Sure.

The numbers at Del Mar are down so far but this probably has more to do with $5 gas and a rough economy. However do not underestimate the handicapping part. I believe this will really remain present at Keeeneland where so many horses converge after coming from dirt tracks over the winter.

Nonetheless there is a lot of good racing at Del Mar over the next month and it is probably now time to start diving in.

[jimbo66]

Sorry, but simply poppycock.  

The times may be better, but that\'s it.  Even the correlation between racing well on the Hollywood and Santa Anita synthetic surfaces translates poorly to racing well at Delmar.  

You can blame the $5 gas all you want.  But that ain\'t it.

Stop and ask any serious gambler you know how comfortable he/she is betting poly and how much they wager on that surface compared to dirt.  

Only the buffoons who decided to have two consecutive years of Breeders cups on polycrap might agree.

\"Poly-free\" and staying that way,

Jim

[fkach]

I\'m at the point where I don\'t mind handicapping the new surfaces. I just wish the industry would stop claiming that any of these artificial surfaces are a substitute for dirt. They are 3rd a surface that generally plays more like turf than dirt. I also have no problem with racing having three surfaces (actually more than three because the artificial surfaces are not all alike), but the industry must recognize that and start giving out seperate awards etc.... It\'s RETARDED (actually it\'s more extreme than that but I can\'t think of the proper word) to hand out DIRT Eclipse awards for performances on synthetic or to withhold them from superior dirt horses that don\'t not fire their best shot on Breeder\'s Cup day in CA.

[sighthound]

From The Bloodhorse, today:

Sprint champion Midnight Lute appears to be ready for his next start after working faster than the track record for seven furlongs on Del Mar\'s Polytrack racing surface Aug. 7.

Trained by Bob Baffert, the 5-year-old son of Real Quiet has not raced since his second-place finish in the Cigar Mile (gr. I) at Aqueduct Nov. 24. Prior to the Cigar, Midnight Lute won the Forego Handicap (gr. I) at Saratoga by 2 1/4 lengths, followed by the TVG Breeders\' Cup Sprint (gr. I) over a sloppy track at Monmouth Park by 4 3/4 lengths, locking up the Eclipse Award as the nation\'s top sprinter.

With Martin Pedroza aboard, Midnight Lute sizzled seven panels in 1:21 3/5, much faster than the Del Mar Polytrack record of 1:22.46 for the distance set by the filly Lethal Heat in Fleet Treat Stakes July 20.

[Lost Cause]

I tend to agree with you Silver..It has become a little more handicappable (Is that a word?)...Probably because there is more past performance lines to go on and the trainers are figuring it out..The rail also seems a lot livelier and speed holds on better..
I am not scared to dive into a Delmar pool as I was last year...I even had 5 out of 6 that day they had the huge carryover..
I have never been a fan of Polytrack but I\'m finding it a little easier to figure out than last year and like you said there is a lot of big races coming up which means big pools which means I have to try to learn how to get a piece of that pool....

[jma11473]

How do you blame the track surface for wagering being down when virtually every track is experiencing decreases in handle? I\'d put some combination of the economy/food and gas prices/the ADW issues/horse racing losing out to other forms of gambling over the track surface being the problem. Things are tough all over the map in this game.

[TGJB]

Del Mar is much faster in the morning, slows down as it heats up. Also speeds up when they water it.

[jimbo66]

How crazy is that?

When was the last time on a dirt surface that a horse broke the track record in a workout?

I don\'t care how much faster it is in the morning or how much water makes it faster.

That is just stupid.

[NoCarolinaTony]

Well Jimbo in the Fwiw category, that track record is only a year old, and it was a superior horse who did that, and the time is by no means the fastest 7F time ever run. The fact that the horse ran that fast in the am may be more stupid.....

I\'m not debating the virtue of Synth as it\'s clear you have an opinion thats yours to keep. Also in the FWIW category you can make money betting on it, just takes an open mind and good data/

NCT

[NoCarolinaTony]

http://www.kentucky.com/179/story/483210.html

If they do this, this could be your future (permanent) home of the BC, Lexington, home of the BC,NTRA etc etc etc

[sighthound]

What was most notable to me about the Midnight Lute blurb is that the horse can apparently run equally well over slop at Monmouth, at Saratoga, at Aqueduct, and now polytrack at Del Mar.