Opening Night at Turfway

Originally Posted by TitanSooner

and closers win every race!! at least it seemed that way.. wonder if having so much less kickback allowed them to sit back and pounce without a face full of dirt.

I talked with Randall Toupes, Mena and John McKee and all three said it is like running on air. The horses really took to it. McKee said there is an advatage to closing because when you are on the lead you cant hear the horses coming from behind. So your horse doesnt feel the pressure and neither does the jock. He also said that the jock who is on the lead has got to pay more attention to what is going on behind him. Toupes said the horse and jock do not get the kickback like they did during the spring meet. So far so good.

[TitanSooner]

Originally Posted by eurobounce

I talked with Randall Toupes, Mena and John McKee and all three said it is like running on air. The horses really took to it. McKee said there is an advatage to closing because when you are on the lead you cant hear the horses coming from behind. So your horse doesnt feel the pressure and neither does the jock. He also said that the jock who is on the lead has got to pay more attention to what is going on behind him. Toupes said the horse and jock do not get the kickback like they did during the spring meet. So far so good.

very interesting.. never thought about that aspect.

[Siena 16]

It's good to hear that ORACLE is not the only one speaking to jockey's on this forum. Interesting thoughts about POLY. Maybe there hope for Hollywood after all.

[JJP]

I thought the kickback was still clearly visible. Maybe not as much as last winter, but it was definitely there.

Originally Posted by JJP

I thought the kickback was still clearly visible. Maybe not as much as last winter, but it was definitely there.

Well there are two ingredients to the kickback. 1) the solid kickback and 2) the dust that was kicked back. I agree that the "solid" kickback was there, but the dust was much much less. The solid kickback isnt that big of a deal because that just falls right off of the horse and jock. The dust is what was the major concern. I think it can be better, but I think it was much better than the spring meet.

Originally Posted by eurobounce

Well there are two ingredients to the kickback. 1) the solid kickback and 2) the dust that was kicked back. I agree that the "solid" kickback was there, but the dust was much much less. The solid kickback isnt that big of a deal because that just falls right off of the horse and jock. The dust is what was the major concern. I think it can be better, but I think it was much better than the spring meet.

Euro, how do you have the handle figures?
They haven't been released anywhere I can find them. Where are they?

Originally Posted by oracle80

Euro, how do you have the handle figures?
They haven't been released anywhere I can find them. Where are they?

I have a buddy who works in the mutual office at Turfway. He gave me the raw numbers. He said that at first check, the total handle was higher this year compared to last year. He won't have the final handle until this afternoon. Prob will be released later tonight.

Originally Posted by Siena 16

It's good to hear that ORACLE is not the only one speaking to jockey's on this forum. Interesting thoughts about POLY. Maybe there hope for Hollywood after all.

Siena,
I have never spoken to a jockey about their thoughts on Poly. I spoke to an agent who related what his jockey had told him.
Keep in mind that they changed the poly surface for this meet to attempt to eliminate kickback.
WOuld have been hard for anyone to comment on riding on something that hadn't been ridden on yet.

[sumitas]

Originally Posted by eurobounce

I talked with Randall Toupes, Mena and John McKee and all three said it is like running on air. The horses really took to it. McKee said there is an advatage to closing because when you are on the lead you cant hear the horses coming from behind. So your horse doesnt feel the pressure and neither does the jock. He also said that the jock who is on the lead has got to pay more attention to what is going on behind him. Toupes said the horse and jock do not get the kickback like they did during the spring meet. So far so good.

i'd try rear view mirrors