[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

Turf racing in America is on it's death bed with the emergence of JunkTrack. Whereas the turf used to be inhabited by those the couldn't handle dirt, why would anyone want to race their grass horses on grass anymore when they are going to be able to win all the major "dirt" races? It's going to be so hilarious watching Saint Stephen and The Tin Man coming down to the wire in the Hollywood Gold Cup.

Half Heaven strikes again on Polytrack
By BYRON KING
Half Heaven was a good horse on turf for her first 18 races. On Polytrack, she is apparently in a completely different class.

Saturday at Turfway Park in the $50,000 My Charmer Stakes, Half Heaven recorded her second stakes victory in as many starts on the surface, defeating My Chickadee by a half-length. Stalking the pace in second early, she surged to a length lead in midstretch, and held on late under jockey Miguel Mena. She raced 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.95, paying $7.40 as the narrow favorite in the field of 10.

Her victory in the My Charmer followed a score in the River Memories Stakes over Woodbine's Polytrack surface on Oct. 28. Dale Romans trains the winner for owner Frank Stronach, who purchased Half Heaven, a 4-year-old daughter of Regal Classic, for $180,000 at Fasig Tipton's November selected mixed sale. The My Charmer victory improved her record to 6 wins from 20 starts and boosted her earnings to $277,461.
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Turf mares try to switch to synthetic
By STEVE ANDERSEN
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - How the turf mares Blue Cay and Vatchesvendetta handle the transition to racing on a synthetic surface is likely to determine the outcome of an optional claimer for California-breds at Hollywood Park on Thursday.

Both Blue Cay and Vatchesvendetta have run well on turf in recent starts, but have not raced on Hollywood Park's new synthetic surface. Judging from the way they are training, the experiment is worth a gamble, according to their respective trainers.

The optional claimer carries a purse of $46,000 and is run at 1 1/16 miles.

Blue Cay, who may go favored, was promoted from second to first after being bothered during a $32,000 claiming race at a mile on turf at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting on Oct. 12, her most recent start. It was the third win of the year for the 5-year-old Blue Cay, who was claimed for $40,000 at Hollywood Park last May by a partnership and trainer Mike Mitchell.

Mitchell said he has observed other trainers having success with their turf horses on the synthetic track, "So why not try it? She works great on it. I want see how she does."