My Prediction for Santa Anita

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by ArlJim78

jockey comments on synthetics from the recent Bloodhorse article.

Robbie Albarado
"If I can go around there every day with one pair of goggles and one pair of pants and not have sand hit me at 35 mile per hour, yeah, I will take that every day"

Garrett Gomez
" The polytrack doesn't have a lot of kickback, which is good for the horses."

Patrick Husbands
"The polytrack to me is the best thing to happen to racing. It is easy on the horses and a more patient racetrack."

Rene Douglas
"What I like about it is that you don't have to get that dirt in your face. Its easier for a horse to ride through and easier to control your horse. I would 100% prefer synthetic surfaces"

Yes, that is correct. Santa Anita is the exception to the rule. In general, there is far less kickback on synthetic tracks. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there is no kickback on synthetic tracks. There is kickback but it is not nearly as bad as on regular dirt. In general the jocks even come back much cleaner after the race. On regular dirt, if a jock is on a come-from-behinder, the jock usually comes back covered in dirt after the race.

By the way, if you have a horse that has only run on synthetic surfaces and he is about to run on dirt for the first time, it would be a big concern how he will handle getting hit in the face with real dirt. It stings quite a bit. If it was the other way around and you had a horse that had been running on regualr dirt who was running on a synthetic track for the first time, you would not have to worry about that issue.