Zayat is Leaving; Baffert hates it

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by ArlJim78

whatever the track variation is morning to afternoon, tight or loose, someone is winning those races other than Baffert, and they are dealing with the same circumstances as Baffert and are doing so with less "brilliant" horses than he has. how do they do it?

well...yeah, that's true. and an excellent point.

Originally Posted by Danzig

well...yeah, that's true. and an excellent point.

I think the complainers' argument is that the track--in the afternoon--isn't conducive to having the "fastest" horse win. Of course you can say that the horse that reaches the wire first IS the "fastest," but a very tiring surface may well take more out of a horse that runs hard early. I was very much in favor of synthetic surfaces when it just appeared that tracks either couldn't, or wouldn't, make dirt surfaces safe. But nobody realized that at least some synthetic surfaces seem to be drastically changing "the game." The developers didn't market them by saying "They're safer, and by the way they're so deep and tiring that many of your most popular and expensive breeding lines will be worthless on them." And as for saying "Well, they shouldn't have bought those horses," I don't think anyone could have predicted how Poly was going to play at Del Mar. Apparently it CAN provide a surface which plays more like dirt--so why not do it, at least for now?

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Diver52

I think the complainers' argument is that the track--in the afternoon--isn't conducive to having the "fastest" horse win. Of course you can say that the horse that reaches the wire first IS the "fastest," but a very tiring surface may well take more out of a horse that runs hard early. I was very much in favor of synthetic surfaces when it just appeared that tracks either couldn't, or wouldn't, make dirt surfaces safe. But nobody realized that at least some synthetic surfaces seem to be drastically changing "the game." The developers didn't market them by saying "They're safer, and by the way they're so deep and tiring that many of your most popular and expensive breeding lines will be worthless on them." And as for saying "Well, they shouldn't have bought those horses," I don't think anyone could have predicted how Poly was going to play at Del Mar. Apparently it CAN provide a surface which plays more like dirt--so why not do it, at least for now?

there was another track early this year that they said speed was doomed--right before a 3 yo won gate to wire in a derby prep.

it would be nice if the tracks exhibited no bias, regardless of style of running-and may the best horse win.

as for poly, i've been leery of the change (to put it mildly) and also feel that a good dirt surface would be the way to go...but times are changing.

but if zayat is the only one complaining-and thus far it seems he is--well, he's leaving so that's that. i think the track super handled the disagreement poorly, but as for changing the track due to one owner-that's another story.

del mar is still so early in the going, patience is called for-give every one a little time to figure it out. i think zayat may have jumped the gun, altho no doubt he felt he had a tremendous reason to be upset. you can't please everyone, that remains true!