Derby Figs

[Paolo]

1) Agree that the figs held up well for the day. That is not the same as saying that they hold up over the years. Best all-time figure going to 3yo filly DoJ is more than a bit suspicious, but that topic has already been beaten to death. Yes, I read all the material available (Are Horses Getting Faster, Parts I thru MMXIII); but it still seems totally illogical. Regardless, the only thing that matters to me as a handicapper is that they hold up in the short-term, and it would be hard for anyone to argue that they didn\'t.

2) Did I miss a discussion somewhere about why the \'hot pace\' designation was not used for the Derby?

3) I am still trying to familiarize myself with your data. A \"--\" after a fig does not seem to show up anywhere in your introductory material. Not hard to infer that it means a negative number, especially since it always seems to be followed by the \"neg #\" comment. Is the intro material so old that negative numbers were not even conceived when it was originally written?

[TGJB]

1) DOJ ran on the same day, around the same two turns, as Orb and the others who came back and ran well Derby weekend. If you make her worse you have to make them worse. And would a couple of points really make a difference in looking at her?

2) The race got a \"H pace\" designation, didn\'t go on the sheets in time for that posting.

3) The \"--\" is a minus sign, yes they are negative numbers. There were negative figures when the intro material was written, but we hadn\'t \"computerized\" yet (gone digital?) and we had to work with the symbols and vocabulary that presented. I think that\'s the first time anyone asked that question.