Thorograph #'s- Past Derby Winners

[golfer]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Believe it or not I dont think people were near as concerned about time or speed figures as we are now.

The premise behind the tracks speed is that the track cushion is considerably deeper now than it was in the 70's. Hence the deeper the track, the slower it is. I have no idea if this is true or not but it does seem possible. I'm not sure how they explain the turf though.

The deeper cushion (basically more sand) is what Jerry Brown says makes the tracks much slower today, compared to years ago. As Scav said last night, you can find the entire explanation for this on the Thorograph website. It was a year or so ago on the TG board, a long thread with specific "scientific" data to back up his assertions. I followed it back then, it seemed to make logical sense. I don't remember enough to quote it here. I can certainly understand why anyone who has not seen it would be skeptical about the "horses getting faster" premise.