Best Race of the Weekend?

[Pedigree Ann]

[quote=The Indomitable DrugS]Top 5 winners of last weekend:


#1. Icon Project: 114 Beyer fell just one point short of Sightseek and Silverbulletday's 115's as fastest Beyer by a female in a Saratoga dirt route since 1992. And it came without anything favorable happening trip or pace wise.

Icon Project has won two stakes race impressively on sloppy tracks but was beaten on a dry one. Before that, she raced only on turf. Would like to see more of her on dry tracks before I jump on the bandwagon.

Top 5 losers of last weekend:


#1. American turf females: Salve Germania was no better than 3rd in seven consecutive turf races in Europe. ...

She ran off in the post parade. She acted up behind the gate. She was forced to close wide into the teeth of VERY slow fractions. It all didn't matter... she beat a par Grade 2 field of American Turf horses.

Closing into a slow pace is the way turf races are usually run in Europe; everybody gallops along in a bunch, and then try to outsprint each other at the finish. The way the race was run suited her perfectly.

[NTamm1215]

Originally Posted by Pedagogue Ann

Icon Project has won two stakes race impressively on sloppy tracks but was beaten on a dry one. Before that, she raced only on turf. Would like to see more of her on dry tracks before I jump on the bandwagon.

Yeah that track on Sunday was a quagmire!

Do you take into consideration 1.) that the track on Sunday was basically fast as there hadn't been any rain about 24 hours or that 2.) Her loss on a dry track was entirely circumstancial and had nothing to do with the track condition?

NT

[hockey2315]

Originally Posted by Pedigree Ann

Closing into a slow pace is the way turf races are usually run in Europe; everybody gallops along in a bunch, and then try to outsprint each other at the finish. The way the race was run suited her perfectly.

What?

[Pedigree Ann]

Originally Posted by hockey2315

What?

I think I was quite clear. As a handicapper, you must have noticed that most Euro horses don't break as quickly and rarely gun for the lead like we can see US ones do, especially in races longer than 5 or 6f. Even when there is a pacemaker in the race, it is frequently only a couple of lengths in front of the next horse, and the rest are running so that there is little daylight between the various horses, ignoring the tailed off horses who can't keep up and will have no part in the finish.

Jealous Again beat the field in the Queen Mary at Royal Ascot by not running to the script: she broke like a shot and ran out on a big lead, and the Euro-trained fillies couldn't make up ground. Aegean, another of W. Ward's starters at the meet, failed because she didn't or couldn't put ground between herself and the rest of the field and they outsprinted her in the last two furlongs.

Oh, and German races are often run in soft or heavy turf, so the best horses, the ones who get to go to stud, have to be able to handle it well, and they frequently pass this ability on to their offspring.