Praise For Del Mar
 

Handle is up, attendance is up, fields are trending upward, workouts are up, SAFETY IS IMPECCABLE...so far.
http://news.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=40173

You don't like the topic, don't read the thread. :p

Yep.

Awesome.

Awsome baby. Safety and handle increases rule. :D

While Im not a fan of artifical surfaces, a comment like this sounds like a disgruntled gambler and not a horseracing fan.

You jinxed them, they had a lame one vanned off today.

I wouldn't bet a show bet on a four horse field on the shait myself also. I hate the stuff. If trainers would learn to train the horse within its ability these breakdowns and injuries would stop all by themselves. They'll keep running them even harder on the Poly and then what? The problem isn't the surface it's whats running on it.

Why do you complain about increased handle and attendance? I prefere the racing at Toga but it is nice to hear of the sucess at Delmar. I have maintained that if they spent equal $$$$$ on a natural surface, the safety would eaqual out.

safety has been pretty good at Saratoga too from what I understand.

Yeah horses are safe at Toga. Do you really know why? There isn't any 5k-20k claimers there that's the real reason. If they ran bottom claimer's from Buleuh there they'd be all kinds of injuries. But there they run a way higher quality horse there at Toga so a whole lot less problems.

Get used to it and learn to handicap it, because it is the future.

There will always be a niche for it. Not all tracks will have this stuff trust me. I can still bet the turf like I do most of the time. I'd like to see someone look at the level of horses being injuried on the dirt. I bet it's 70% that they are mid to bottom level claimers who run 15 or more times a year.

For the record, there have been 4 deaths at Del Mar this meet (that i know of anyway)... Mayor Bozarth, Lyrical Sound, Mohawk and Margenot.

I'm not trying to argue here, I just thought they deserved to be mentioned.

at least three of those are turf races though

I am here. My bros are here. What you talkin about ?

times are quickening also. sub 112 6 furlongs are the norm the past 2 or 3 days, even by the cheapest stock. i'm not necessarialy a poly fan or detractor, but i do love playing southern cal, and it's there, for better or worse, so i have to get used to it.

You're most likly right about the bottom (over raced) claimers being the ones that are hurt the most. 5k claimers are the main stay at most tracks across the nation and they to deserve to race on a forgiving track.

Yeah but if know your car is about to quit on you do you one, drive it even more or baby it around until you can get it fixed. It's not a question of they deserve a better track but let them race within themselves. Too many racing dates also has something to do with it. i wonder how many tracks are going on at the same time now? Horses are being split between L.A. Downs and Lone Star now when it used to just be L.A. Downs. Mnr and the other East Coast tracks now that are getting the good stock thinned out. Why is it that some tracks have lesser breakdowns than others? Look at Toga and Oaklawn compared to Turfway. It's not even close. Oaklawn is run in the winter months and they have an excellant track.

Today's 3rd
 

Wow, did anybody see the entry run 1-2 at 24-1?

Cedeno and Antongeorgi....Talamo & Baze finished last and second last.....wow.

*This is not meant as praise for Del Mar. Just didn't want to start another thread.*

Guys,

I wasn't able to join y'all in 'Toga a few weeks back, becauce I already had a trip planned with a friend to go to Cali this past weekend. We got down to Del Mat yesterday (Sun), and it was really cool. The place is as beautiful as it looks, and for how many people they can hold (25k I think?), the places seems intimate to me. I loved it. We were just there for a few races, and I dumped some $$$, but it was a good time.

Why do I get the feeling the DT summer get-together will be there instead of 'Toga next year, when I wanna go to 'Toga lol?

How was the weather in mid August? Hot and Humid like Saratoga?:cool:

They vanned another one off in the first today. Never unsaddled, vanned off in distress after pulling up bad.

24-1 entry runs 1-2 in the third at Del Mar today. If this is the future of racing, count me out. I'd rather bet on greyhounds than any of this garbage.

Well, the 6-7-8 was chalkfest supreme, with a P3 that paid about $26. For the most part, I think the bettors have it figured out.

Not at all... right on the ocean, nice breeze, low 80s. What a lot of people don't realize about Los Angeles and San Diego, is along the coast and quite a few miles inward, it's actually not that hot there.

Where it gets hot is the further east you get, the further you get towards the desert. I remember when I went to the Coachella music festival (http://www.coachella.com) just outside of Palm Springs (which is in the desert) in late April 2006, it was over 100 degrees everyday. When I drove back to L.A. to catch my flight home, I stopped at Hermosa Beach at about 5PM. It was so friggin cold! Like literally 50 degrees cooler at the beach than it was in the desert. So that's what makes Del Mar so nice this time O' year. It never gets super hot. That and is it possible for Cali to ever get humid? It's mainly dry heat there right?

We can get some tropical storms to bring the humitity up, but it never gets like the midwest and east coast. You can't beat living next to the Pacific Ocean for the weather.

It's funny, but the trouble line on that race only says, "dropped back in the stretch and gave way." No mention of being vanned off in distress. Did you see the 7th race? The trouble line on Americanrevolution says, "gave way and was eased late." I know the DRF has listed horses being vanned off before. Are these horses being included in the statistics on the safety of Polytrack? Or are they only keeping track of horses that break down and are euthanized right there on the track?

For the record, I live in Southern California. I don't mind the All Weather tracks as long as they play fair. I do not like the Polytrack for the reason that it doesn't. I would have preferred that all the tracks in California had switched to the same surface. I'm betting very light at Del Mar, if at all, until they finish the experiment the first meet with the new surface is. Same thing with the upcoming meet at Golden Gate with the Tapeta surface. Who knows how that will play? Maybe the DTers in England? Good luck to them. I did okay at Hollywood Park this year (better than I usually do) and will bet Santa Anita with more confidence, due to the fact that both tracks have the Cushion Track surface.

You are looking at the wrong race, race number 1.

http://www.equibase.com/static/chart...081307USA1.pdf

The people that are complaining about the surface just need to chill out as eventually it will play fair. I agree with The Bid in that it has changed the game and that this is far from dirt racing but it takes time for the track sup to understand the track. Arlington has really turned into a delight to play from a poly perspective. All types have been winning (the stats in the program will tell you closers are winning at the best clip but that is early meet heavy when they were figuring out the track).

In all honesty, I think the move to poly helps the younger generation of horse players, like myself, because we do not have the 20 years of experience on one surface built up in the brain and we are somewhat allowed to even the playing field a little.

But on the other side of the coin, I could care less what they are racing on as long as I can find a winner :)

Some people have been playing tracks like Del Mar and Hollywood Park for 20 years, they have all these built up angles and experiences with wagering. Perfect example is that Ata Dynaformer horse with EG Burnison or wahtever his name is. I had NO IDEA who tha person was, but for 20 years he has been sneaking horses in and someone caught on to it. The fact that the surface has changed, it has opened it up for younger people to create their own angles from the start, we are essentially getting new tracks thus new angles.

You don't beat this game right away, it takes experience, time and a beating. Right now, everyone is back to square one with polytrack

Your way off. I have scored on a plethra of horses with poly form that have gone to a dirt track and ran like crap and then all of a sudden they come back to poly and score at 10/1. There are plenty of patterns/angles out there, especially when you follow a poly surface like I do with Arlington.

The poly/dirt angle is going to be the strongest pattern out there, much stronger then poly/turf angle

More so, one of the strongest plays this year has been horses that had poly success at Keeneland going to Churchill, they were strong plays against and a majority of them didn't run as 'solid' as they did at Keeneland, this led to some super pick three/pick four scores at Churchill