Arlignton Poly
 

They have had 6 fatal breakdowns in the last 6 days of racing. It would seem when you try to speed this surface up it doesnt work. 2 today, yesterday, and a couple other randoms during the week. Have they been reported? If not I would like them to be noted.

Terrible.
Having Directv I'm not able to watch Arlington on TV as of Weds., been using the computer sometimes.

Speaking of Arlington having breakdowns, seems to me that Monmouth has had a considerable amount of fatal and non-fatal breakdowns too. 2 yesterday in the 6th and 7th, one jock off all mounts today.

So aggravated with all this TVG/HRTV stuff. Feel bad for the Arlington folks to get shut out right before the millions. At least at The Fairgrounds we made it through the whole season.

As always you must take the situation into consideration. Todays breakdown was a horse who has done nothing but drop in its brief career for a trainer that is 0 for 36 on the year. Yesterday was a banner day for Catalano/Calabrese as they got what they wanted by getting 2 horses claimed off of them that were both dropping on suspicious circumstances. The fact that both brokedown would seem to me to be more of a damnation of these individuals than any track surface. In yesterdays 6th the horse in question was 3/5 dropping to 5k off of a 10k conditioned win. He was claimed for 25k 2 starts back. In the 9th the horse had been waited out of jail and dropped to the bottom. This was this horses third hard drop in a row.

It is unfortunate but these three were prime canidates to have had something drastically wrong with them going into the race.

From my experiences of polytrack over here and in america, it's the tracks that are at fault and not the surface itself.

Martin Collins has gone over there and sold it as a maintenance free surface, when it is anything but. The tracks have taken his word for it.

There have been next to no problems on the poly over here since it was laid at Lingfield and Wolverhampton and i find it hard to believe that there is so much mof a difference.

Hey, what is the jail time, is it standard amount of time at any racetrack?

Like the sun breaking through the clouds....

you state that there have been six breakdowns and then ask if they have been reported? what are your sources? i saw a couple mentioned in the local paper, but nothing like six in six days. you also cited breakdowns at Turfway last winter that no one was aware of.

I know of four fatals recently. Not sure on the other two

I have never heard claims to, "no maintenance".

Collins' website says, "It provides a safe, durable, high performance, lower maintenance surface."

i've learned that some people are incapable of understanding these words.
in their vocabulary "safe" means that there will never again be a single breakdown, and "lower" maintenance means NO maintenance.

I believe "virtually no maintenance" is the phrase that was used to sell it in the first place.

Well, i know for a fact that Turfway don't do enough with their surface, which is more than likely the reason for the problems, which they have had with the poly and it is unlikely that other tracks are doing the same.

If you see the amount of work that goes into the poly over here, you'll probably see why we get very few breakdowns at all.

I cannot see how two almost identical surfaces could react and ride so differently without the problem being to do with the ground staff rather than the surface itself.

Polytrack has been a miracle over here, all the trainers love it and it is so safe.

more of your "facts"?
Turfway races when the temperature is below freezing. its a different animal than other poly tracks. they had a good year and a bad year. they're still trying to get it right. however its much better for them than dirt.

That is more than likely. Our tracks soon realised that the comment was complete rubbish really. Over the winter, the lads at Wolverhampton were working through the night when the track began to freeze.

You have to harrow the poly differently depending on weather conditions.

How deep you harrow then effects speed and times.

I think many tracks have taken what he said to be gospel and just left the track sometimes in dreadful conditions.

As i was told on another forum, apparently Turfway only harrowed their poly once when it started to freeze. If you only do that you have to expect problems. Poly is okay until it reaches a certain temperature and then it starts to ball up.

If it is kept moving, it doesn't have the chance to freeze or ball up.

Cannon... Did you notice the gate scratch in the 6th? Im sure the managment didnt want 3 breakdowns in one day so they are being extra careful on the heels of the million. Of course FCC wanted to lose the bad horses, but I doubt he wanted them to breakdown, and I dont think he would have ran them if they felt they were in harms way. Its sad for anyone to lose one on the track, but the fact is they broke down on polytrack. They have had 6 in the last week, thats significant regardless of who they are breaking down for. Especially when I have noticed a significant change in recent times at Arlington. It seems to me they tried to speed up the track and it put the horses in danger.

it is all the rain that has made it quicker

Whatever it is its not playing nearly as safe as it was earlier in the meet. The trainers want Del Mar to put water down and management refuses. Does the composition change that drastically when it gets tightened up? If so thats even more reason its not all weather. I think in a perfect climate mid 70s its a fine track, I dont think its made to handle fridged KY winters, or So Cal heat. Hopefully they work it out soon

Last year, and every year before, the fact is they broke down on dirt.

Bid, it's obvious you dislike artificial surfaces. You've said you don't like that races are slower. Is that the only reason, or are there others?

Its slow and boring. Im not sure how much safer it is than dirt anyhow, we just have a smaller sample size. This sport is rich in history, and the history was made on dirt.

I dont dislike poly, its not all weather. I think it would be a good track to train over, I dont think it has any place in the afternoons