Arlignton Poly

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by JJP

This from Joe Kristufek in Sunday's (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald re: Polytrack.

"Polytrack has proven safer for racehorses, but not for jockeys. When a spill occurs on Polytrack, riders hit the dense surface hard, and since there's little slide to it, its nearly impossible for them to drop and roll."

In the past week or so, AP has seen Penalba go down in a bad spill; still in critical condition I believe. Israel Ocampo and Uriel Lopez went down in a spill on Friday and Ocampo suffered multiple facial injuries which required surgery while Lopez suffered a broken thumb and bruised ribs.

This may be one of the stupidest things that I have seen yet

[Scav]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

This may be one of the stupidest things that I have seen yet

Exactly, he is nuts. If you saw how he fell when this happened it is understandable why he is all jacked up.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

This may be one of the stupidest things that I have seen yet

Oh, my scientific mind loves it, and senses opportunity here - let's do a controlled study!

We'll assemble all the casual turf writers together, get them going at 16 m/s(2), and drop them from a height of 6-7 feet onto Polytrack. We can measure the distance they "roll"

As an aside, I've seen other jocks comment in the press that they prefer falling on it, versus dirt. Having fallen myself onto turf, sand, wood chips, and into fences - looks inviting enough to me

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by Riot

Oh, my scientific mind loves it, and senses opportunity here - let's do a controlled study!

We'll assemble all the casual turf writers together, get them going at 16 m/s(2), and drop them from a height of 6-7 feet onto Polytrack. We can measure the distance they "roll"

As an aside, I've seen other jocks comment in the press that they prefer falling on it, versus dirt. Having fallen myself onto turf, sand, wood chips, and into fences - looks inviting enough to me

That someone spent time thinking of a theory that would suggest that polytrack would be more unsafe for riders to land on is troubling.

[Riot]

If Kristufek had any small knowledge regarding the biomechanics of the surface, and why it is much safer for 470kg animals striking it during a race at 35-40mph on a slightly concave 4-5-inch round foot, he wouldn't have written anything so silly regarding what happens when 115 pound men strike it at the same speed.

When he publishes his opinion that, "Polytrack has proven safer for racehorses, but not for jockeys", stating it as a fact, unfortunately alot of people are going to believe anything they read, and take it as inviolate truth.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by Riot

If Kristufek had any small knowledge regarding the biomechanics of the surface, and why it is much safer for 470kg animals striking it during a race at 35-40mph on a slightly concave 4-5-inch round foot, he wouldn't have written anything so silly regarding what happens when 115 pound men strike it at the same speed.

When he publishes his opinion that, "Polytrack has proven safer for racehorses, but not for jockeys", stating it as a fact, unfortunately alot of people are going to believe anything they read, and take it as inviolate truth.

No surface is going to be safe to land on head first going 35 mph and if you get stepped on it is not going to matter much either way.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

No surface is going to be safe to land on head first going 35 mph and if you get stepped on it is not going to matter much either way.

Oh, no, I'm sure the polytrack is at fault. The jock could have rolled out of the way of the other horses in the field if the track were dirt. I know it's true, I read it in the Daily Herald.