Another major race day at CD where the inside has been Borel proofed

[Calzone Lord]

Ever since Super Saver won the Kentucky Derby in 2010 -- the inside at Churchill Downs has been made deeper on big racing days like the Ky Oaks day, Derby day, Breeders Cup days, and Clark day.

About half of these day have led to Thoro-Graph giving the rarely awarded "X" symbol to all horses who raced on the rail.

For instance, both Breeders Cup days in 2010 got the rare "X" from them. That was the year Tizway was 5th in the Breeders Cup Dirt Mile while racing on the inside every step of the way. The hapless longshot Dakota Phone circled the field with a very wide move. Quality Road was also beaten 30 lengths in that years Classic while racing on the inside every step of the way. Eibar Coa delivered a great ride when he gunned Big Drama out of the gate and angled out very sharply to almost instantly get off the inside in that years BC Sprint.

Thoro-Graph will basically give the 'X' when horses who race inside collectively run much slower than expected and horses who race wide run peak races left and right.

In last years Kentucky Derby, Shackleford and Stay Thirsty both had perfect trips, but raced on the inside every step of the way and ran out of the money. The former upset the Preakness next out. The latter just missed at a price in the Belmont next out and took the Travers. Animal Kingdom was 4-wide throughout and Nehro was 5-wide throughout -- both also had clear trips but were just pretty damn wide.

Anyway, the track was very fast today. Horses up close and stalking the speed did great. The rail had been good all meet at CD and was no longer the preferred place to be...it was now the least preferred place to be.

In the realm of track biases...these aren't significantly biased tracks. But, the rail is being intentionally messed with on big days ... and the result is a track that is less than fair to some horses drawn inside who are unable to get off of it.

Nate's Mineshaft in the Alysheba and On Fire Baby in the KY Oaks, for instance. A couple of speed horses who drew post #1 and weren't fast enough to clear and angle-out...but weren't slow enough to be held up and yanked out. Plum Pretty ran a terrible race and doesn't deserve an excuse, but her jockey shouldn't have angled in that much. She had a loose lead and everything her own way as the odds-on favorite, and she couldn't even hold on for 2nd. She should have been kept out four wide setting the pace.

If the track is like this again tomorrow -- and I fully expect it will be...the rail again isn't going to be a good place to be for tactical speed horses who aren't fast enough to clear.