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Originally Posted by oracle80
Rupert they leaped before they looked out there. Some rinky dink venue switching to that stuff is a non event. People who bet those small tracks will still bet them. Lets face it, if you will bet 5 claimers, you will bet em if they run em uphill in the snow.
But if I were California I would have watched the upcoming Keeneland fall meet intently. I meet player and player after player(and these guys SEND it in) who keep telling me that they won't bet a quarter on the Keeneland poly races that are upcoming. I hear lots of opinions voiced here that say the same thing. They are gonna take a handle hit, and we both know it. Handle is what pays the bills. I'm also gonan be interested in just how many qulaity horses will actually wanna compete there on that stuff.
California should have waited for more data to come in on the stuff. And again, are you telling me that the trainers wouldn't have preferred(Vienna spoke out on this) them just installing new cushions and surfaces that were still dirt? This is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. You are gonna alienate gamblers who pay the bills, and trainers who now have to completely start over in how to train each day, and owners who will question how racing there translates to future success on dirt racing in the big races and also what kind of rewsidal value will be awarded to horses who win big races there. I mean, do you really think that major stud farms are gonna toss millions at horses whose only graded wins are on polytrack? I highly doubt it. They are gonna have to travel and win on dirt in order to solidify it and in that case, what is the ****ing point? I mean, its so hard to win a grade oe race, just one. Having to go out and win another in order to justify full market value at stud is a major penalty and risk that many will not take.
This whole thing is gonna get polarized at some point, poly vs traditional. My money is on traditional.
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If they could have put in brand new dirt tracks that were good, then I agree with you that that is what they should have done. I'm not sure why they didn't do that. I don't know if they didn't think they could do it or what.
I still don't know if it's in stone that Santa Anita will put in a polytrack. Stronach may try to fight it. He may try to put in a surface similar to Gulfstream if the CHRB will allow it.
I don't know if you are right about horses not being that valuable if their only big wins are on polytrack. I would agree with you if there was only one polytrack, but if they have polytrack at many of the top tracks in the country including Hollywood Park, Keeneland, Del Mar, etc. then I don't see a problem.
If you are right that people won't bet their money on the new surfaces, then there will be a big problem. I don't think that will happen though. I think people will be willing to give it a chance. Who knows what this surface at Hollywood will be like. It's not the same as the track at Turfway. It's a different material.