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Originally Posted by Port Conway Lane
Saturday there were very few horses that fall into this category.
In the sprint Fleeting Spirit was the only horse in the field with no prior syn. experience.Turf runner off the board.
The Juvenile- D'Funnybone at 6-1 ran horribly and Aspire at 20-1 did as well.I can't deny that these two examples make a strong case for your statement above.However they weren't the only horses who ran poorly.Radiohead,Beetoven and Alfred Nobel are turfers with no prior syn.experience who didn't perform well.The winner,a turfer,had no prior experience and Piscitelli came within 3/4 of a length of winning at 50-1.His dirt form appeared to be better than his syn. form and although he doesn't fit the criteria stated above his good dirt form prior to this race would suggest he was a toss as well.
My point is that the sampling of dirt horses trying the syn. is relatively small when you look at the big picture.Tossing D'Funnybone could give one a slight edge but there were four turfers with no prior experience to consider not to mention the horses with good synthetic form.
The Dirt Mile-Mambo Meister at 44-1 finished 5th by 2 lengths.Only horse in the field with no prior syn. form.The winner was 2 for 2 on syn. and had performed well in the majority of his dirt starts.
Classic-Girolamo ran last at 25-1 and Summer Bird was an ok 4th at 6-1.
Altogether there were 5 horses in four races who fall into the category stated above.Three ran horribly and two ran just ok.
There are dirt horses out there who can make the transition successfully.It happens every day at synthetic tracks across the nation.In raw numbers alone the odds have been against dirt horses trying syn. for the first time in the BC.I don't believe the odds are stacked against them any more than when East coast horses were shipping out west when they had dirt.And vice-versa.
Tainted or not the BC is still the Championship Day of American Racing.If it's not then what day is?
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Excellent post and I agree. I dont think there were very many dirt horses who ran and were compromised. The ones who were most compromised didnt run, a la Rachel Alexandra and Fabulous Strike. I get a little sick of trainers and owners who complain about poly yet continue to try it. These are the same jerks who clam up when they start winning on it.
I cant help to think though, how Kodiak Kowboy would have fared had he go. Its kind of hard to imagine given the way the Sprint played out, he wouldnt have been coming and I think we all know he is better than Dancing in Silk.