Keeneland and Sumitas

It only matters to me how the poly at Turfway compares to the dirt that was at Turfway (not Aqueduct). They got alot more racing days. And bigger fields, more mutual handle.

Those problems were fixed, weren't they?

They missed days, had horses break down steady in the morning, cancelled training, lied about the track on numours occasions. Whats so good about TWP in the winter? The only shame is they can always fall back on the roads being too bad for the people coming from L'ville to travel. Truth is the track was a total joke, and so is Woodbine in the cold. Del Mar and the rest of the poly will fail in the heat, just give it time. Everyone rushed to put this garbage in once Keeneland got behind it. Before Keeneland was involved the stuff was taboo, suddenly its great when they are peddling it.

No they werent fixed, the horses come over 3 inches taller than they are because it balls up, it kicks back 45 feet and it knocked a horses eye out during a live race.

They could have put in a surface similar to Aqueduct and run in the same cold weather though.

Fixed when the winter ended! We'll see how it goes again this winter.

Just look at the Saratoga track, has there been a single breakdown on the dirt this whole meet? For the price spent on polytrack why couldn't tracks have developed a dirt track similar to Saratoga's that is both safe and true dirt?

The days Turfway missed, the roads were indeed closed. They didn't lie about that. I know, I live here. I went up to take photos of Sumwon the second day the interstate was open (side roads still ice covered), and the stable area was still an inch of sheet ice, they threw straw down on the main horse paths so they could get to the open track for training.

The steady breakdowns in the morning - I hadn't read or heard anything about that, you can share if you have specifics.

Time will tell. Australia hasn't yet had a problem, but those are not exactly the same artificial surfaces.

Riot, Ive noted a lot of breakdowns on here if you dig through the old threads. I also drove up from Louisville pleanty of days with no issue and the track was closed... Didnt trian, didnt run, etc. Road excuse was no good. For the record the main horsepath at TWP is also Poly, and it also freezes. I made it from L'ville in about 45 minutes, thats how bad the weather was.

Its just not an all weather surface, it freezes

It takes me over an hour in good weather to make that trip! I guess that makes you graded stakes, and me claiming company, driving-wise :D

If I recall it right, the water retained in the track froze, clogging the draining process, and the retained water in the track made the ice clods people are talking about and you referenced. I don't know what they could do about that. I do know they still had more open days than when it was dirt. Why they didn't consult other cold-weather track supers, like Sniper suggested, before Keeneland purchased an interest in the synthetic surface company (predestining Turfway to conversion first), I don't know.

I go 90 the entire drive and can make it in 45-50.

The track doesnt weather well. They will have more issues this winter with the same group of excuses. The kickback is ridiculous, it freezes, it balls up, its uneven. I think they lost as many days this year as they have in the past due to "Roads"

One day sticks out in my mind, cold day, TWP cancelled, Beulah ran, and New York ran. They had their tracks under control, while TWP coudlnt control the frozen ice kickback.

Don't know, but its a real small sample. I guess Street Sense won the futurity race at Keeneland last fall before the juvenile.

The Bluegrass this year was a disaster and I think not conclusive of much the way it was run. You basically had a tie between 3-4 horses. While Dominican has done nothing since, Zanjero, Street Sense and Tueflesberg have acquitted themselves well and they were all in the photo or close.

I always point out that the 06 Bluegrass didn't prove much either. I think Sinister Minister is still trying to get out of the conditioned allowance races.

Turfway doesn't offer much in the way of graded stakes and we don't know about DelMar yet. Honestly I'm not that taken by any of the graded stakes winners that come out of Ca, even on the dirt. I guess the Pac Classic may shed some light, if the winner can ship out and perform on dirt. But even if they failed you would have to question whether it was the surface or the shipping, or something else, ala Lava Man.

I think a few more years will be required to adequately answer your question.

or a flash in the pan, ala Sinister Minister?

Actually he finished 3rd, the mighty Great Hunter won that race.

So .... are Zayat's horses kicking all comers at Saratoga yet?

There is a Zayat 2 yo in the 2nd at Saratoga named Maimonides who will be interesting to watch.

Should win for fun...

This colt is the half to El Corredor and Roman Ruler too.

I agree 100%. I kinda like Grand Minstrel a little bit. What do you think?

Hope you cash...

I can't even watch the damn race from work much less play it, but if you're on afterwards, will you post and let me know how the race panned out?