I really hate the phrase "Derby Prep." Makes it sound like the trainer is just practicing for the Derby. Anyway, I think we will find that trainers will want their horse as sound as possible come Derby day. And if you believe that running on Poly or any other Synthetic surface if healthier for your horse then why not have your final prep on a synthetic surface rather than a dirt surface. Then give you horse a work and some gallops over the dirt surface. Bailey and Moss made a point on ESPN that made sense to me...they basically said that the synthetic surface is so forgiving that the horse just bounces over the surface therefor not giving the proper conditioning the horse needs.
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