Square Eddie's Lexington

[Sandreadis]

Missed the break badly, 5w,6w jaw dropping move at far turn. Takes the lead and gives it up in deep stretch off a 3 month layoff. Did anyone else think this was a pretty amazing race? This crop of Cali 3YO\'s just keeps looking better and better.
The horse looked amazing in the paddock. Gotta think they run in the Derby.
Another Charsimatic coming out of the Lex.?

[jimbo66]

It was a solid race, but it was a solid synthetic race against a very very slow field.  

Charismatic ran a nice figure in the lexington, on a dirt track.  Big difference.

Assuming he runs, add Square Eddie to the \"guessing game\" of whether he can run on dirt.  it is a shame.  Does anybody else miss the days where we could compare dirt figures from California, Ny, Keenland and Florida and figure out which horses were over-hyped underlays, without having to guess about dirt?

[Old Mr. Boston]

Jimbo,
I couldn\'t agree more. These Derby preps on synth might just as well be preps for for the BC turf races. More handiguessing than handicapping.

[SoCalMan2]

jimbo66 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It was a solid race, but it was a solid synthetic
> race against a very very slow field.  
>
> Charismatic ran a nice figure in the lexington, on
> a dirt track.  Big difference.
>
> Assuming he runs, add Square Eddie to the
> \"guessing game\" of whether he can run on dirt.  it
> is a shame.  Does anybody else miss the days where
> we could compare dirt figures from California, Ny,
> Keenland and Florida and figure out which horses
> were over-hyped underlays, without having to guess
> about dirt?


I do miss those days.  Although there were issues in the past (Keeneland\'s dirt oval used to throw up anomalous results -- Sinister Minister\'s Blue Grass comes to mind), they were much reduced compared to what we need to deal with today.  Of course, there were issues like off tracks etc (like exist this year with the Louisiana Derby), but those for some reason seem a lot easier to deal with than the training and racing over synthetic.  I keep thinking that at some point we will grow accustomed to the new world, but the discussions about things like the California to East Coast dirt jump are still beguiling us.  One thing I wonder about is whether the synthetic to dirt jump up is strictly an issue of California coming east or whether people have also seen it coming off synthetic tracks like Turfway, Presque Isle, Keeneland, or Arlington.

Also, it seems that the momentum for switching to synthetic has halted.  Are there any other tracks outside of California going synthetic other than the ones I list above?  Anybody think we will see any retrenchment?  I recall that, at one point, Calder had gone synthetic (Tartan I think the surface was called) and then switched back (I think they just put sand on top of the Tartan).  Also, Remington (or whathever the main track in Oklahoma used to be called) used to have a synthetic surface (I think it was called equitrac if I remember correctly and they switched back to natural dirt).  I also seem to recall one of the Chicago area tracks toying with the idea of the equitrac back then but either not doing it or quickly switching back.

[miff]

I read that the various tracks have agreed to fund a surface study by Dr.Peterson(sp?) This guy is supposed to be THE authority on surfaces/injuries/energy return et al.I think everything will go on hold until this study is complete.

I do know that NYRA has indefinitely delayed any thought of changing their racing surfaces. A rather spirited surface meeting amongst the NY horsemen ended with most wishing to remain on a well maintained dirt course.The surface review was mandated by the clueless Albany Politicians, most of whom cannot spell dirt,turf or synthetic.They got wind about a surface controversy from one of the state senators gophers and added it to the NYRA bailout legislation.


Mike

[TGJB]

Jimbo-- somebody said something very much like that in Kerrison\'s column in Saturday\'s NY Post.