Racetracks should start measuring wind direction

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by richard

It's a point but is there any real validity here ? If you have a tail wind down the backstretch one can assume that has as much a benefit as a head wind is a negative down the stretch .

You have to understand simple basic handicapping to get it. Anyone who doesn't - won't get it.

A backstretch tailwind - and stretch headwind is going to make the pace appear faster than it really was - and going to make the come home time appear slower than it really was.

It's very important information in determining what the pace truly was.


Say you have a day where there is a 30 mile per hour crosswind blowing at the horses back through the far turn. Horses will fly through that turn. On a day like that - a one-turn 7 furlong race will produce a quick time - where a two-turn route won't because the horses have to run into that 30 mph cross wind on the first turn.