BEYER: Poly's Anti-Speed Bias

[Sightseek]

Originally Posted by parsixfarms

It seems that a lot of discussion has really gotten away from the fundamental point. A creator of SPEED figures bemoans what he perceives to be a surface that penalizes horses with speed. (I'm not about to wade into the issue of whether his whining about Polytrack is "sour grapes" on his part or not.)

I think a few points bear mentioning. (1) The safety of the horses. Every trainer with whom I have discussed the issue of Polytrack speaks very highly of the surface, and the fact that trainers such as Biancone and O'Neil want to be training on it whenever possible, even during Derby week, speaks volumes. The safety of the horse and the ability to make more starts are paramount. Perceived difficulty handicapping it is NOT a reason to scrap Polytrack. (2) Everyone complains about the lack of sturdiness in today's thoroughbred. If Polytrack and the other artificial surfaces force the breeding industry to reevaluate current breeding (speed and more speed)methods, isn't that a good thing? (3) Almost every handicapper says that they love turf racing, because they have big fields with close finishes. Now Polytrack replicates that kind of racing, and big fields with close finishes are supposed to be a bad thing. I don't get it. (4) People continually complained about speed biases at race tracks, especially at the "old" Keeneland. Polytrack eliminates that bias, and people still complain.

The issue of how the jockeys ride the surface is also something that I think bears mentioning, but I think a lot has to do with the quality of the horses and riders. For example, Beyer says that racing at Turfway is more "normal." I suggest that this is because of cheaper horses with less talented riders. The style of riding at Keeneland is more like "major league turf" racing, where the horses relax better and the riders slow things down to a European-type race.

In a perfect world I think that would be really wonderful, but do you really see the sport's top stars making more starts and reversing the trend of early retirements?