This is Great Stuff!

[King Glorious]

Heat may be affecting Pro-Ride
By Brad Free
ARCADIA, Calif. - After an initial round of positive reviews from horsemen, enthusiasm over the newly installed Pro-Ride racing surface at Santa Anita has been tempered.

And the theme is familiar - the synthetic track is a good surface on which to train, but afternoon races are a whole different story. Two days into the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita, jockey Garrett Gomez said the difference between morning and afternoon is distinct.

"The track is safe [in the afternoon], but it's nothing like we're seeing in the morning," he said. "In the morning, it seems all the horses get across it very well, but in the afternoon, not even half of them are getting across it."

Many trainers are reluctant to be critical of the new surface. "I want stalls here next year," one said. Privately, they said their concerns include perceived looseness and heat of the track. The dark-colored surface absorbs heat, and the 97-degree temperature Thursday made many jockeys uncomfortable, including Rafael Bejarano.

Bejarano's agent, Joe Ferrer, said Bejarano told him, "I have never been so hot in my life."

Pro-Ride founder Ian Pearse said Friday that despite the extreme heat, water would not be applied to the surface. The only change in maintenance on Friday would be "grooming the track" halfway through the card. That was not done Wednesday or Thursday.

"We'll experiment with a few small maintenance techniques, and see what feedback we get," Pearse said. "But we're not altering anything, because it's not broken. I am happy with the stability of the track, and the times. We're trying to set a whole new standard."

Pearse said the track Thursday "was not loose, it was just slightly looser than the day before."

Final times on the main track the first two days were fast. Older maidens on Wednesday ran 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:15.73, roughly .60 faster than on a normal California track.

Thursday, the track speed appeared to change throughout the card. The first two races were similar (2-year-old allowance runners went six furlongs in 1:09.67 in race 2). But races 4 and 5 were much faster than expected at the height of the day's heat. In race 4, restricted $12,500 claimers that normally run six furlongs in about 1:10.80 were timed in 1:09.82.

Later, in races 6-8, the track slowed even while temperatures stayed in the high 90s. "The air temperature stayed the same, but the track temperature dropped dramatically," Pearse said. The Pro-Ride mixture is classified, and Pearse declined to reveal how it adapts to heat.

The fluctuation in track speed is a concern to handicappers who rely on speed figures to analyze performance and predict future efforts. That was a key criticism of the Polytrack surface at Del Mar, which was watered frequently this summer and changed speeds.

The first two days of racing at Oak Tree included 13 races on the main track. While the small sample precludes reasonable determination of bias, horses have not been winning by the same margins they did on dirt. And while speed is not an attribute, it is not a liability, either. In sprints at 6 1/2 furlongs or less, 3 of the 5 races were won gate to wire; closers won 3 of 4 at seven furlongs. The three route races were won by closers; two were logical favorites or second favorites.

In race 7 on Thursday, the Bruce Headley-trained Silver Swallow was pulled up on the first turn but walked off the track. Headley did not blame the track.

"She was fine before the race, and she is fine this morning [Friday], so draw your own conclusion," he said.

Gomez rode two main-track winners on Thursday, but Wednesday in race 7 his heavily favored Vulcan failed to reproduce the top form he had showed at Del Mar.

"He bobbled the whole way around there," Gomez said.

"The horses that are getting across it are struggling less than others," the jockey said. "It seems that you have a couple in each race that travel a lot better than the others. As long as they're at a [constant] pace, they're okay. But squeeze them to make them go faster, and they fall apart on you."

[The Indomitable DrugS]

It's an eyesore.

[SCUDSBROTHER]

I honestly think Gomez was off his game the first 2 days of the meet. I know for sure the horse he couldn't get it done with in the last race on Wednesday is better than those horses. What do ya think he was gunna say when the chalks he had on Wednesday didn't win? Gomez wasn't any good on opening day at Del Mar either. Zenyatta, Stardom Bound, Well Armed, Tiago, and Street Boss all ran well over this surface today. I would say some of the horses in the lesser races may not be making up the ground they did at Del Mar. Cheaper horses are looking for any excuse to not run. They are gunna show the greatest change in performance from track to track. Gunna cool off around Wednesday or Thursday, and we will see how it goes. When you see that gray 2 year old filly be able to make a nice move from quite a way back like that, it's not very consistent with what Gomez said. If you don't like the way horses are running there, then play other tracks.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by SCUDSBROTHER

I honestly think Gomez was off his game the first 2 days of the meet.

He rode 3 winners the first two days - one of which paid $14.80.

And he has 6 winners in the first four days of the meet.

He's only saying to the press what the average jockey won't say for fear of losing business.

I heard trainer Roger Stein say the following on his radio show this morning : 'The new synthetic surfaces have injured more horses than the old dirt ones. The injuries might be different types, but the surface isn't safer.'

I was big time in favor of the synthetic surfaces at the start. I just can't believe how big of a disaster they all turn out to be.

[The Bid]

It couldnt be anything but a disaster. The worst part is instead of fixing it they are going to continue the charade

[MaTH716]

I just don't understand. It is supposed to be 87% dirt. First thing is, if it's 87 already, why not make it 100% dirt? Can only 13% of all that other crap, protect horses from the injuries/breakdowns that the are trying to prevent? Is the 13% affecting the track in these negative ways? How can 13% of synthetics/wax keep the track from getting sloppy on rainy days?
Also,is the BC watching whats going on, and if so is there any consideration to moving the BC to another venue? It's not like Santa Anita will have to wait long to host the event again. Time is running out and people are beginning to ship out there. You would hope that a solution or some sort of announcement would be imminent.

[SCUDSBROTHER]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

He rode 3 winners the first two days - one of which paid $14.80.

And he has 6 winners in the first four days of the meet.

He's only saying to the press what the average jockey won't say for fear of losing business.

I heard trainer Roger Stein say the following on his radio show this morning : 'The new synthetic surfaces have injured more horses than the old dirt ones. The injuries might be different types, but the surface isn't safer.'

I was big time in favor of the synthetic surfaces at the start. I just can't believe how big of a disaster they all turn out to be.

Roger Stein has 5 wins all year, and is lucky to still be alive. He makes a living off his various shenanigans. Like keeping a horse from breaking it's maiden. So he can keep collecting lucrative 2nd place checks with them. Do you remember him making Ginobli go 2 turns? Why do you think he did that? It's because he knew he would win at 1 turn, and he wanted to get a 2nd place check (multiple times ) going 2 turns. He should be happy that Talamo was red hot on Thursday, and got Dr. Zaenthe to hold on. If anything is dangerous , it would be that rock hard turf course, but I bet Roger won't complain about that now. I repeat, Gomez s-u-c-k-e-d on opening day. That horse he lost with in the last will come right back and win. It will pay nothing ,because people know he should of won with it already. He is getting older, and those guys are often crap when they come off a break. Valenzuela was exactly the same way when he started getting older. The 1st day after Christmas, Pat would take money, and simply be off his game. Same with Gomez the opening week this Del Mar. What do ya expect him to say? I am no good the 1st day or so of a meet? Look at his foot come out of the irons when he went to cheat with Ballesteros on Friday. He knew he was starting to get beat. So, he went to his final card, and tried to throw his horse up against Antique Avenue, but his foot came out of the irons. Next week, he will start riding like himself. He doesn't ride like other guys. He always wants to get a horse into a certain rhythm. He isn't having as much luck doing that on this surface yet. By next week, he will. I'm not going back to those short fields. Certain trainers are always going to say a surface causes more injuries, but when you look at the field sizes there is no comparison to what we had on dirt. If some of that is due to turf horses being able to compete on 2 surfaces, then I don't care. I don't want to constantly have those fkn 4 or 5 horse fields. Dirt failed to give us proper field size. This is a business, and you can't entertain people with fkn 4 n' 5 horse fields.