Pro Ride Tidbits

[smalltimer]

By the time the BC rolls around, there will have been approximately 150 dirt races on the Pro Ride surface at OSA.  So far @ 80 dirt races of varying distances, classes and conditions have taken place. I\'m going to make some general observations and you can consider them or dismiss them.  I\'m only looking to open up some dialogue since JB admittedly mentioned the possibility of falling on his face in the seminar.

In the last 5 racing days, there have been 31 Pro Ride races. Delmar has provided 15 winners, of those winners, 9 have been sprints and 6 were route races.  

Fairplex has provided 10 winners at OSA, of those 6 have been winners in routes and 4 in sprints.

Hollywood (Cushion) provided 1 win and horses coming in from the minor dirt tracks have added 2 wins, and there have been 3 horses that ran over the OSA strip for the 2nd time and won.

There have been a total of 18 starts from horses making their 2nd start at the meet on Pro Ride.  Of those 18, 3 won and 3 ran 3rd and the other 12 finished off the board.  The 3 winners all capitalized on either a distance change, or a class drop. So was the improvement due to having had a previous out, or was it because the horses were put in easier spots? Maybe a combination or maybe just the intent.

The one constant so far is this:  With few exceptions, horses who have now won on this surface have a foundation of previous starts \"somewhere\" on artificial surfaces.  Even those winners from Fairplex had had an earlier out(s) on Poly/Cushion or Tapeta.  Doesn\'t mean an artificial foundation is required, but so far, it hasn\'t hurt.  Nor does it imply horses coming in from strictly a dirt background can\'t win either.

Is there any reason to believe those horses shipping in from either AP or TP or KEE or even WOX will fare any better or any worse than the examples so far from Delmar?  Hard telling.

I\'m only using this small sample from the last 5 racing days to create dialogue.
 
As JB informed me in my personal message to him, \"Everything else aside, what\'s that got to do with Pro Ride?\"

[TGJB]

I have defintely found that previous good figures on poly are a huge plus at Kee over similar figures on dirt. But the problem with Pro-Ride (aside from being a new and unique surface) is that virtually ALL the horses in Cal (and all in So Cal) have raced over synthetics, so there is virtually no control group of pure durt horses, except for those shipping in, which has always been hit-or-miss as to whether they will fire in California. Additionally, all the locals train over it-- some (Bruno De Julio, for example) think training over artifical surfaces makes horses fitter. Which could possibly explain jumps leaving it for dirt.

Having said that, a couple of horses from the Northern fairs (dirt) ran very well at Del Mar when I was out there, and they had neither raced nor trained on synthetics.

[major78]

Anything noted on horses going from turf to Pro-Ride?

Thanks....