Opening Night at Turfway
 

Well the opening night was a complete success. Much much less kickback. Very favorable opinions by jocks and trainers. Nice full fields, great great prices and everyone came back to the barns healthy. More importantly the handle was up compared to opening night last year.

and closers win every race!! at least it seemed that way.. wonder if having so much less kickback allowed them to sit back and pounce without a face full of dirt.

So contrary to what a lot of people have said about Polytrack, people are still betting their money. I'm curious to see the handle figures this weekend.

I talked with Randall Toupes, Mena and John McKee and all three said it is like running on air. The horses really took to it. McKee said there is an advatage to closing because when you are on the lead you cant hear the horses coming from behind. So your horse doesnt feel the pressure and neither does the jock. He also said that the jock who is on the lead has got to pay more attention to what is going on behind him. Toupes said the horse and jock do not get the kickback like they did during the spring meet. So far so good.

People will always wager regardless of what the surface is. I never did understand that argument.

very interesting.. never thought about that aspect.

It's good to hear that ORACLE is not the only one speaking to jockey's on this forum. Interesting thoughts about POLY. Maybe there hope for Hollywood after all.

I thought the kickback was still clearly visible. Maybe not as much as last winter, but it was definitely there.

Well there are two ingredients to the kickback. 1) the solid kickback and 2) the dust that was kicked back. I agree that the "solid" kickback was there, but the dust was much much less. The solid kickback isnt that big of a deal because that just falls right off of the horse and jock. The dust is what was the major concern. I think it can be better, but I think it was much better than the spring meet.

Siena,
I have never spoken to a jockey about their thoughts on Poly. I spoke to an agent who related what his jockey had told him.
Keep in mind that they changed the poly surface for this meet to attempt to eliminate kickback.
WOuld have been hard for anyone to comment on riding on something that hadn't been ridden on yet.

Euro, how do you have the handle figures?
They haven't been released anywhere I can find them. Where are they?

I have a buddy who works in the mutual office at Turfway. He gave me the raw numbers. He said that at first check, the total handle was higher this year compared to last year. He won't have the final handle until this afternoon. Prob will be released later tonight.

Euro,
There is a filly running tonight who should win by 10 against the colts if she likes that crap they run on.
Her name is Her Majesty. We caught her fast out of the gate(much faster than shown in the DRF) and in her previous workout she went in compnay and easily outworked a nice horse while working on the outside and losing more ground.
Was thinking she would run at Belmont. I didn't even know her name until I saw the pp's for Turfway just now. Shes a Giants Causeway(I didn't know that either until just now) and I actually thought she was a colt(LOL!!)
If she runs anywhere near her works those boys will have to be awful good to beat her.

Yeah she looks great. Lep is on her and she is trained by Biacone. I heard a little buzz about her last night. The trainer I use is Greenhill and his stable is right next to Biacones. I went over to see her and she looks like the goods. However, I just don't trust PolyTrack enough to wager as of yet. The rail was totally dead last night and Her Majesty drew post 1. I was at the track last night and I didnt bet one race. I sat there and just made notes. I will prob go down tonight and sit and takes notes again. As much as I like Poly, I cant find the will to bet it yet.

Oh, she will be 3/5 at best.

Euro,
by any chance do you know anything about greenhill's horse in the 5th race Friday night, Silver Mark. Looks very live at 10-1 and Schaefer has been a pretty damn good rider the last month or so.

No, but I will find out for you.

Her Majesty
 

Oracle, my clocker had her August 19th work in 59.4 breezing in company with another filly named Competition and Her Majesty dusted her by 3. Did you see that work?

I just said I did. She was on the outside of the other horse and clobbered it. To be honest I thought she was a colt.

The reason I asked is I didn't have it as a gate work. Thanks

She also only went 4f in my opinion. The other furlong was a gallop out under no pressure.

i'd try rear view mirrors :D

She was a little less than that Euro, but she won.
She ran to her works which were quite exceptional.

I look forward to playing this track tomorrow or Saturday.
-Pete

wear your nike air, lol

Boy, she looked fantastic last night. The gallop out was very impressive too. Saw her back at her barn and it was like she never ran. Very very impressive.

She trained like a star, even if I thought that "she" was a "he". Hard to see teh privates or lack thereof when they go by ya as fast as she went by in the morning!!!!!

What is funny is that Biacone's two year olds are so much bigger than the older horses stabled at Turfway by local owners. Really shows the difference in breeding and buying good stock. I was right on the rail last night at the finishline and she just moved by so effortlessly and so freaking fast. I wanted to ask Biacone what is next for her but I didnt get to see him.

Oracle and Euro,

What are your opinions on Biancone in general?

As a man and a trainer.

I have talked to the man twice in my life for about a total of 15 minutes. 10 of those minutes were spent discussing PolyTrack. The other 5 was spent talking about Leparoux. He seemed nice and a good horsemen. I think Gander or Oracle would know more.

bad golfer

I actually think he is a good trainer, his horses are well prepared, usually well meant. I understand that he gets top stock but he does pretty well considering. That being said I would not put using any edge needed to get the job done, legal or otherwise, past him. He has not been kicked out of 2 jurisdictions because he can't golf. Actually he is a pretty good guy for a frenchman, especially compared to C. Clement.

Not that bad....he hustled my man Kurt Paseka, who is pretty good.

Paseka hasn't been the same since he jumped in the infield lake at Saratoga!!

So, he was normal before that?

Probably not