Are there any guides on how to handicap poly?
 

The good news for handicappers here in Detroit is that a brand new track is on the way and is expected to be open by mid-July. The "bad news" is that it is going to be a synthetic surface (I can't recall the brand). I want to go and enjoy live racing since we've been waiting for it for so long, but at the same time it's tough to throw money at a bunch of races over a surface that is such a wild card.

I know that it will take a few weeks of simple observation to figure out how the new track will play, but I was wondering if there has been any primers put out about how to handicap races on synthetic surfaces. I tried looking for books, but I couldn't find any. I think Bloodhorse did an article about this recently, but it must have appeared right before I began my subscription.

I've got about 3 months to get up-to-speed on how to handle races on synthetic surfaces, and I was wondering if you guys (and gals!) could point me to books or articles that have dealt with this topic.

Handicap it like turf if it is dry, handicap it like dirt if it is wet, and for the most part, the rail is garbage...

Speed can be at a
 

big disadvantage sometimes like at Del Mar last summer or Santa Anita for the most part this winter.... Have to watch each track individually, i generally won't pick a front-runner at SA or Del Mar unless it is wet at SA

PSH

its funny... but it really is that easy... buffalo man looked like he could cruise the other day up the fence... and he just died... i could not belive it, i had a bet on him at those odd's and he looked so ready to fire, i was shocked how flat he went.

It's my understanding that Del Mar and SA have been pretty unique. Del Mar is just a weird surface, and SA had its drainage issues and the installation of a new track. I'm hoping the Pinnacle surface will be more like Hollywood Park instead of these "less consistent" tracks.

In my opinion there is no one way to go about it because all of these tracks play a little differently. Early in your meet, you could try to use some basic poly rules (the one Scav gave out isn't a bad example) but you really have to wait and see how that particular track plays. The new track here (Arlington) played relatively fair most of the time, but the one at Del Mar was obviously a very different story.

Read a week's worth of charts before you start and develop a track profile for wherever you are. That goes for any track, not just poly. Synthetic surfaces are truly a "3rd surface" and I can't believe how many people simply refuse to stop trying to translate dirt or turf form to synthetics.

Finley has a book on it but I wouldn't recommend anything he wrote. I think it's very important to look for synthetic form/experience or at least workouts at that track. I personally won't be a first timer at Keeneland who hasn't had at least one workout there and I won't bet older horses that have never tried polytrack before (with some exceptions).