4/27: Incident mars Derby Works..

[philcski]

Originally Posted by parsixfarms

I guess that we'll have to agree to disagree over the relative speed of the Churchill racing surface this weekend. But just like all stakes races are not equal, neither are all claiming races. Sometimes, they come up tougher than usual; other times not. The races this weekend at Churchill all seemed to come up universally weak for the respective class levels, so we're not necessarily comparing apples to apples.

The inner track was slower than usual this winter (with admittedly weak horses sometimes clocking miles in 1:41 or 1:42) because of the cold winter preventing the NYRA track maintenance crew from watering the track, the result being a very dry, cuppy racing surface.

The 1:39 and 1:40 times to which I was referring were to one turn miles. In this regard, a perfect example of an abnormally slow, tiring racing surface was Aqueduct on Saturday, April 11. Churchill on Saturday pales in comparison.

That was my one trip to Aqueduct this winter. The track was a MESS (and yes, abnormally slow and tiring) because it rained so much, and the fields were terrible (not to disparage your horse, who actually ran well that day behind a perfect trip winner). They missed the guarantee in the pick 4 because of the conditions.

I think my comparisons of each race at CD shows the times were slower than normal and it's incorrect to generalize that all the races were worse than their norms. In fact, the race you mentioned previously (the 30k N2L that went 1:36.40) was actually better than what's typical of that level, and they ran like it.

Slow doesn't necessarily mean safe, either.

[parsixfarms]

Originally Posted by philcski

That was my one trip to Aqueduct this winter. The track was a MESS (and yes, abnormally slow and tiring) because it rained so much, and the fields were terrible (not to disparage your horse, who actually ran well that day behind a perfect trip winner). They missed the guarantee in the pick 4 because of the conditions.

Slow doesn't necessarily mean safe, either.

No disrespect received about Slick Wheelie. I think we've learned that, despite how he trains in the morning, he's better suited to one turn races. I know that he won't be confused with a stakes horse, but he's honest. Also, I don't think he particularly cares for the mud, but if he had changed leads that afternoon, I'm certain that he would have caught the winner. Of course, changing leads properly has frequently been a problem for him in the afternoon.

I agree that slow doesn't necessarily mean safe, but the souped-up, hard tracks are really tough on the horses.