Polyhater...

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by 10 pnt move up

I agree with much of what you say but the hollywood races still are run like dirt, they dont bunch up as you describe and the fractions are reasonble.

The longer they go, the worse speed seems to do at HP.

As I'm sure you know, looking at naked fractions can be overrated, because a track can be made to play faster. It doesn't change the way the races are run much at all, but it does help produce times that aren't silly looking.

Last fall at Keeneland, the polytrack was strongly favoring closers and the paces were comically slow. After a few weeks, I remember articles being written complaining about the ridiculious way those races had been run. Beyer among them.

They made the track very fast for the final few days of the meet, Calculating Man broke the six furlong track record, and suffered a fatal injury right after the wire.

For whatever reason, that breakdown went unreported, but I believe I'd heard it was caused by a back injury.