questions for TGJB:

[Flighted Iron]

TGJB,

  with projected temps close to 90 sat afternoon
  A. Is this hot enough to possibly compromise the track surface
  B. If so,which of whom have never experienced this have found a
surface that closely relates.
 

    Respectfully,
     mjs

[lfe2211]

I\'m not JB but I do lnow a thing or two about synthetic surfaces.

Unlike the 3 different Polytrack variants, Cushion Track and Tapeta, Pro-Ride does not use a heat sensitive wax binder to hold the crushed rubber/fiber/sand/??? gamish together. Rather, it uses a heat impervious polymeric binder. For this reason,the manufacturer claims no water is needed to cool down the binder as is required for all the wax bound synthetic concoctions.

Checkout ProRide\'s web site at prorideracing.com

[miff]

LFE 2211,

That flies in the face of what Bejarano, Gryder and Gomez told their agents about almost passing out from the heat that was coming off that surface during the heat wave of two weeks ago. It supposed to get warmer the next few days.


Mike

[RICH]

I also read during the first few days of the meet, there were 90 degree days, and they had to water it between races pretty good, it was not a good scene.

[lfe2211]

Perhaps Pro-Ride reflects rather than absorbs heat more efficiently than the other non-polymer wax bound synthetic concoctions or dirt. I don\'t know.

You make a very excellent point though which goes to the heart of the biggest issue about this BC. How can the Breeder\'s Cup Brain Trust (BCBT) run its races on a new, relatively untested surface that is much different than the other synthetics? While it has been used on a few minor Australian tracks for several years, to me it is sheer lunacy to run its showcase day(s) on a surface that may have unknown flaws that will only manifest themselves under heavy usage in hot weather over a some undefined period of time. One would think that the BCBT would first evaluate Pro-Ride over a meet or two before using it on horseracing\'s biggest day. Duh?!?

[P-Dub]

lfe2211 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Perhaps Pro-Ride reflects rather than absorbs heat
> more efficiently than the other non-polymer wax
> bound synthetic concoctions or dirt. I don\'t know.
>
>
> You make a very excellent point though which goes
> to the heart of the biggest issue about this BC.
> How can the Breeder\'s Cup Brain Trust (BCBT) run
> its races on a new, relatively untested surface
> that is much different than the other synthetics?
> While it has been used on a few minor Australian
> tracks for several years, to me it is sheer lunacy
> to run its showcase day(s) on a surface that may
> have unknown flaws that will only manifest
> themselves under heavy usage in hot weather over a
> some undefined period of time. One would think
> that the BCBT would first evaluate Pro-Ride over a
> meet or two before using it on horseracing\'s
> biggest day. Duh?!?


You make many valid points but quite frankly, this subject has been talked about ad nauseum.

Can we stick to the racing for a couple days, and get back to the surface bashing on Sunday??

[BitPlayer]

I think the difference is between the binder getting hot and melting (which is what allegedly happened to make Del Mar so slow in 2007) and just getting hot (like asphalt).  I can\'t imagine that high temperatures have no effect on how the surface performs, but how the heat affects the individual horses is likely to be more important.

Here\'s what Ian Pearse had to say about the surface and heat on a Bloodhorse blog:

http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/breeders-cup-chat/archive/2008/10/20/getting-a-handle-on-the-pro-ride.aspx

The other thing to keep in mind is that the first few races on Saturday will be held in the morning, Pacific time, before it gets hot.