I was at Golden Gate for Tapeta today...

[westcoastinvader]

Originally Posted by DerbyCat

It's actually over 8 right now and they've got big fields for 10 races each day this weekend - trainers seem to like this new surface.

The handful of people I was standing with trackside by the Winner's Circle almost universally remarked they were surprised by the relative quietness of the horses coming down the stretch on the Tapeta.

Russell Baze commented in a wire service story in my paper this morning that I'll paraphrase from memory.... he said he liked it thus far because little was coming back at the horses making them a little easier to handle because some horses want to "climb" with stuff flying in their face.

He also liked that nothing seems to stick to to horse or jockey.

this from the Golden Gate Fields site after two days on Tapeta.


10-RACE WEEKEND CARDS -- The popularity of the GGF’s new Tapeta racing surface has resulted in a bevy of entries, prompting track officials to card 10-race programs on both Saturday and Sunday. Due to the 10-race cards, GGF has moved up post time for both days to 12:15 p.m.