I don't disagree that there are times a turf course can run different inside out, heck, it happens in Europe all the time. The big difference here is that Del Mar has basically, zero rain, the entire meet. Nothing is tearing it apart other than use, which is significantly different than anything that could be said about Saratoga or Fair Grounds.
A review of the two-turn turf races in the final week of the meet indicates no bias towards position or running style, they have played quite true, and that has been the case relatively all through the meet.
I'd use your very retort, Steve, to come right back and suggest the reason Banned didn't catapult by was the ground loss itself.
You might have the opinion that Midnight Interlude showed a bunch of heart by hanging in gamely, in what happened to be the second-slowest 9 furlong turf race of the meet to that point (though from a small sample of five races).
While proving the opinion is impossible, I don't share yours. To me, Midnight Interlude had a garden trip and was life and death to hold off a horse who had to overcome a seven+ length deficit of extra ground. I'm chalking it up to agreeing to disagree.
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