here's an old '06 piece on gp turf course.
http://www.brisnet.com/cgi-bin/edito...nt=yes&id=3608
newer-http://www.derbytrail.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33572&page=2--
http://www.paulickreport.com/news/th...at-gulfstream/
of note -
One of the major things I've kept an eye on at Gulfstream the past several years is the temporary rail settings on the turf course. Similar to tracks with large turf course that deploy a movable rail, the Gulfstream grass course becomes very favorable to speed horses the further out from the hedge the rail is set. If you dig through the results charts from a season of turf races, you'll see rail setting from 0 feet all the way out to 108 feet, and a lot of different settings in-between.
In my personal opinion, it seems that speed really starts to have an advantage when the rail is 80 feet or further away from the hedge. When I see a 108 foot setting, I'm looking for speed horses unless the pace is going to be insane and even in those situations I'm more likely to pass than play a deep closer.
There are a couple of different considerations for the rail setting, chief among those the ability to reduce wear and tear on the grass over the course of the season. The other consideration is the distance of the scheduled turf races for the day; the rail setting impacts the position of the starting gate relative to the turns which can impact the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of gate positions.
You're not going to crush every race where the rail is set out at 80 or 100 feet with a front running horse but, if you watch those races fairly closely throughout the meet, you'll find at least several instances where lone speed will go off at ridiculously high odds given the advantages of the rail set-up.