[quote=easy goer]I guess this is getting a little of the original topic, but...why is the assumption that horses are getting faster and/or CD is souped up on derby day? It seems one person posts an opinion and then people just glom onto it.QUOTE]
I guess I tend to agree with you that horses are not necessarily getting faster. I've never been a big believer in speed figures, and some of the earlier discussion on this post (figures today versus those of the stars of the 1980s) points to the absurd conclusions that some of the figure devotees reach.
On the other hand, I think most serious observers conclude that, on big race days, track management almost invariably has a "souped-up" racing surface. Take Aqueduct on Wood Memorial Day. You point to Artax as a example. He set the 7F track record in the 1999 Carter on the same day a very pedestrian horse like Adonis won the Wood in 1:47.3. Similarly, in 2005, Forest Danger won the Carter in 1:20.2, while Bellamy Road set a stakes record in the Wood in 1:47. The same thing has occurred on Belmont Stakes Day in recent times (especially in 2004). The old saying that "horses don't set track records, tracks set track records" seems to apply here, and I guess I find it more than coincidental that above par times often occur on big race days.
|