Could poly bring back the 12 furlong "dirt" race?

[sumitas]

who knows ? sure, i'd watch a 12f race on poly. there are a few distance specialists out there right now. i believe Navesink River is one. and what does he get for his troubles ? they send him to Saudi Arabia last new years eve. Belmont and A once in a great while card dirt races just short of 12f.

and just a couple of years ago NYRA cut the CCA Oaks back to 10f from 12f...it seems like the tail is wagging the dog...the commercial breeders must be dictating the length, or lack thereof, of the races

[SentToStud]

They ran a 16f dirt race at Calder a couple months ago. The Umphrey Stakes. The purse was $200k.

It was on that "Extreme" Racing Day and it was supposed to be 2 miles turf, going the wrong way.

It wound up in the slop going the right way. I was there and it was fairly awful seeing what wound up as a 6 horse field of mostly $25,000 optional claimers running for a fifth of a million dollars.

It was more interesting watching the jockeys race 1/16 of a mile on foot. Always bet on Freddie Camacho going .5f in the slop. He won by 20 feet, running barefoot.

[Swap Fliparoo]

Originally Posted by SentToStud

They ran a 16f dirt race at Calder a couple months ago. The Umphrey Stakes. The purse was $200k.

It was on that "Extreme" Racing Day and it was supposed to be 2 miles turf, going the wrong way.

It wound up in the slop going the right way. I was there and it was fairly awful seeing what wound up as a 6 horse field of mostly $25,000 optional claimers running for a fifth of a million dollars.

It was more interesting watching the jockeys race 1/16 of a mile on foot. Always bet on Freddie Camacho going .5f in the slop. He won by 20 feet, running barefoot.

Actually the "wrong way stakes" and long distance race were two different ones, i'm pretty sure. Since there was a deluge, everything came off the turf... and the whole point of a Euro style "wrong way" race was defeated if not on grass.

But it was really weird watching them race 2 mi on dirt!

[Pedigree Ann]

Had the 2-mile race been originally carded on dirt, I know of two horses who might have been entered, because they are screaming for more ground, even at 10f - Andromeda's Hero and Nolan's Cat. Evening Affair was another who liked it long on dirt - won an off-the-turfer over 11f or 12f one year. Milwaukee Brew, who won two runnings of the Santa Anita H, acted like he wanted more. A.P. Arrow gives the same impression.. There are dirt stayers still being bred, but they don't get a chance to shine. Did you know that the 13f Gallant Fox H at Aqueduct was a G2 when grading started in 1973? And it had a follow-up race, the 2 1/4 mile Display H? All before the winter track was installed, of course.