Santa Anita vs Belmont - Super Saturday

[Uncle Buck]

Boy. Looking at this weekend\'s \"Super Saturday\" cards, it\'s not even debatable who has the better, more intriguing card. This is the best Belmont can do? Wow. Throw in the heavy rain and looming scratches and it\'s a big thumbs down for the action at Big Sandy. It ALWAYS rains on the NYRA\'s big days (or it\'s 95 degrees with 90 percent humidity).

Time to get out the flip flops, a nice cool refreshing beverage, throw on the shades and focus on a brilliant, sunny, 85 degree Santa Anita Saturday!

P.S. - Well Armed PARKS in the Goodwood. Speed, speed, speed on the new surface.

[miff]

Buck,

Caulks, bends and more, Belmont under water with more rain over the next 36 hours.

At Santa,did you say speed, speed, speed?.Have not followed that close but am surprised that front runners are dominating on a synthetic.As Baffert said in DRF and I agree \"Synthetics will snatch brilliance away from you. Synthetics keep races close\"

Meanwhile, the Santa double pick six carryover has this sucker considering a small play if that track is speed favoring.Gotta check though as that has never happened before.

Good Luck,
Mike

[miff]

Belmont under water,cancelled card today.Damn, when are they going to install a synthetic surface!


Mike

[Uncle Buck]

Mike. I\'ve watched every Oak Tree race since Wednesday\'s opener. Speed is holding yes indeed. In some instances, horses loose on the lead have opened up huge margins heading into the far turn but some of those weren;t fit enough to get the win. However - even in those instances - only one horse has emerged from the back to go by the loose horses. You\'ll also notice that the new surface is chocolate brown which at least looks a lot more like dirt. But to summarize - speed has been kind the first few days of the meeting

[marcus]

I like what I\'ve seen so far and they seemed to keep to a straight line in the stretch - something I\'m considering while handicapping Saturdays Oak Leaf and thinking about Stardom Bound  . It\'s looks imo like a professional racing surface , played fairly thus far and resolved that hideous glare issue  .  Yesterdays early DD looked like a vintage Oak Tree pay-out . I\'m in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn adjacent to the Valentino peir just across from Lady Liberty and right now the rain is wind driven 20 - 40 mph gusts N N /E to S/E - although not quite as bad weather that the \'07 B C  had , maybe the left coast is the place to be right now ( at least for the weekend  ) ...

[MO]

Hate to \"rain on your parade\", but you may want to read this:

http://www.drf.com/news/article/98588.html

[miff]

MO,

Whats the problem? All you need is the TG Sheets and a thermometer. Jocks get a nice suntan to boot.

Synthetic Surfaces,BRILLIANT!

Mike

[miff]

Belmont muddy,sealed. Turf Yielding. More rain possible.

[jimbo66]

Thanks for sharing MO.

\"less than half the horses are getting over it well\".
\"if you squeeze them to accelerate, they fall apart\".

Oh great.  Forgot to mention the two breakdowns the days before the meet opened.  I know, both trainers said, \"it had nothing to do with the surface\".  Good to see solidarity out there, stand behind the mess.

Two breeders cups on a surface where horses can\'t accelerate without falling apart.  The game is really advancing....

[marcus]

thats too bad - it held up good for a couple days ...  thanks for the link & info ! two horses already broke down ? thats a damn shame - what a waste !
now we probably get imo a lot of talk next about tweaking or getting the surface shook out etc ...

[MO]

Or run races at 5 AM..................

[Uncle Buck]

Jimbo. Have you read \"Who Moved My Cheese?\"
Knowing how to navigate through change is a learned skill:-)

[Thehoarsehorseplayer]

Remember, Uncle Buck, the book is called \"Who Moved My Cheese\" not \"Who Moved My Melted Cheese.\"

I have no problem playing synthetics, although some of them don\'t necessarily make for aesthetically pleasing racing.. But Pro-Ride not holding together in the afternoon warmth is a significant problem for a Breeder\'s Cup venue.

It\'s true that the afternoons should be cooler by then.  Otherwise, they\'re going to have to ice down the track between races.

[docicu3]

The reasonable follow up questions for anyone who cares to try and explain would be.....

1) Free\'s comments imply that there are two kinds of horses on Pro-Ride.  A) Those that handle it  B) Those horses that don\'t .....or at least don\'t handle it so well...

So....

.1a) Anybody care to speculate what kinds of horses are more or less successful at performing on Pro_Ride tracks...Is it size of the animal, early speed VS late comers...more obvious in a sprint or at distances > a mile.  Do the filly\'s and mares have the same obvious problem as the boys.

1b)  Are they experimenting with the track on race days between the early races when the sun is most intense, since Mr Free put this on the table if so how and where would one find such info on race days?

1c)  Since it is obvious that this is a huge problem likely to turn the BC into a glorified celebration of chance and random results,is it too late to change the BC venue given how much of an eye sore this would be for the game if the biggest days of the year become known for a \"flawed racing surface\" much in the same way that the first Saturday in May became a story about the death of the second place finisher rather than a celebration of a phenomenal effort by BB.

DrD

[sighthound]

I have not been watching OSA.  This is from Cristblog:


Bel  G1  Beldame Ladies\' Classic     Cocoa Beach  $7.10  
Bel  G1  Flower BowlF&M Turf          Dynaforce   $8.60  
Bel  G1  Vosburgh Sprint         Black Seventeen  $49.60  
Bel  G1  Joe Hirsch TurfClassic Turf  Grand Couturier  $7.30  
 Bel  G1  Jockey Club Gold Cup  Classic  Curlin  $2.80


OSA  G1  Clement Hirsch  Turf  Red Giant  $6.20  
OSA  G1  Lady\'s Secret  Ladies\' Classic  Zenyatta  $3.40  
OSA  G1  Ancient Title  Sprint  Cost of Freedom  $13.60  
OSA  G1  Oak Leaf  Juvenile Fillies  Stardom Bound  $3.60  
OSA  G1  Yellow Ribbon  F&M Turf  Wait a While  $4.00  
OSA  G1  Goodwood  Classic  Well Armed  $5.40


Cristblog:  \"Despite slop and yielding turf at Belmont and the new Pro-Ride surface at Santa Anita, Saturday\'s record 11 Grade 1 stakes at the two tracks were generally formful affairs, with 6 of the 11 going to favorites and 9 of the 11 won at 3-1 or less. The only jokers in the deck were the two sprint races, with Black Seventeen scoring at 23-1 in the Vosburgh and Cost of Freedom, claimed for $50k two starts back, upending three G1 winners to win the Ancient Title at nearly 6-1. Four of the six favorites sent off at even-money or less came through (Curlin, Zenyatta, Wait a While, Stardom Bound) while Ginger Punch (Beldame) and Mauralakana (Flower Bowl) both finished second.\"