Are there any guides on how to handicap poly?

[Scav]

Originally Posted by Zippy Chippy

The good news for handicappers here in Detroit is that a brand new track is on the way and is expected to be open by mid-July. The "bad news" is that it is going to be a synthetic surface (I can't recall the brand). I want to go and enjoy live racing since we've been waiting for it for so long, but at the same time it's tough to throw money at a bunch of races over a surface that is such a wild card.

I know that it will take a few weeks of simple observation to figure out how the new track will play, but I was wondering if there has been any primers put out about how to handicap races on synthetic surfaces. I tried looking for books, but I couldn't find any. I think Bloodhorse did an article about this recently, but it must have appeared right before I began my subscription.

I've got about 3 months to get up-to-speed on how to handle races on synthetic surfaces, and I was wondering if you guys (and gals!) could point me to books or articles that have dealt with this topic.

Handicap it like turf if it is dry, handicap it like dirt if it is wet, and for the most part, the rail is garbage...