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Originally Posted by oracle80
Geez Johnny V got injured on a horse that broke down on the grass after it won. Landseer and Funfair have gone down in big races as well. Horses were bred for dirt and grass. Its a marketing scheme, nothing more or less,
They could make surfaces deeper like the Oklahoma track in Saratoga. Trainers love it. I gues my question is if its the surface alone breaking down teh horses, then why all the turf breakdowns?
Whats next, marketing company gonna come up with polyturf? Green ground up tires coated with green wax?
Horses dont fire on it, ask a few top trainers about that. The Oaks winner spun her wheels on it badly in a minorstakes race. Lawyer Ron would have been a claimer had he stayed on it. Soi we should just dismiss all the talented runners and say screw it and run on the tires?
name one horse who has made an impact on dirt racing after racing on polytrack and replicated the form? You cant just replace dirt with something that bears no resemblance to it in form or reality whatsoever.
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I'd prefer that there wasnt a change from dirt to polytrack, but there's no changing that. I agree that the tracks should go to a deeper surface ala Oklahoma as a possible solution (did it ever come up as one?), but its not going to happen b/c tracks are so focused on fast times and huge Rags/Beyers. Yes, horses break down on turf, but look at your examples, they are far more rare than those on dirt tracks: Up An Octave (Keeneland April '06), Funfair (Breeders Cup '05) Landseer (Breeders Cup '02???)-could be do to less turf racing, but I dont recall them being a frequent on those on the dirt. I believe its a step in the right direction and I have spoken to a few top trainers about it, Biancone likes it so much that he keeps his horses at Keeneland and Turfway (when not up at the Spa) b/c his horses respond to it so well and it keeps them healthy. I have no answer for the Lawyer Rons that dont take to it, it is unfortunate and thats a credible point. One of the reasons that horses dont "fire" over it is b/c a sprinter cant stretchout from 6F to 8.5F over the polytrack b/c it requires stamina versus running on a dirt track that is similar to concrete. Lemons Forever winner didnt "spin her wheels", she was closing very well in that minor stakes race as she was beaten just 1 length and that mile race set her up prefectly for the Oaks. Thats a valid example-Stream Cat is another. Agreed not a lot of horses have made a huge impact coming from Turfway to other tracks, but that's always been the case b/c Turfway is a lower tier track compared to Keeneland, and the Florida, NY, and Cal tracks.