Another top barn puzzled over Polytrack

I already knew what his boss thought about it but this is the first I have heard from Scott on Polytrack - although it was predictable:

"We had a very strong Saratoga meet," said Blasi. "It's kind of like the second tier was ready, but they weren't quite ready for Keeneland. And some of ours just didn't run well on the Polytrack (at Keeneland). They trained well over there, which is fine, but some of them just didn't run well over it. I'm not bad-mouthing it - it's just a fact."

[2Hot4TV]

I see this as a trend , Love to train on it but some horses just don't run well on it.

[sumitas]

Too early to tell. Some trainers blame different dirt tracks for their horse's poor performance too.

Blasi sounds like a whiner more than anything else on this one.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by Cunningham Racing

I already knew what his boss thought about it but this is the first I have heard from Scott on Polytrack - although it was predictable:

"We had a very strong Saratoga meet," said Blasi. "It's kind of like the second tier was ready, but they weren't quite ready for Keeneland. And some of ours just didn't run well on the Polytrack (at Keeneland). They trained well over there, which is fine, but some of them just didn't run well over it. I'm not bad-mouthing it - it's just a fact."

That's not surprising. It's a different surface from dirt. Of course there will be horses that don't like it, just like there are horses that don't like grass and there are grass horses that don't like dirt.

I would expect that there will be dirt horses that don't like polytrack. I have never heard anyone claim that all horses will like it.

[pba1817]

Why is it that EVERY horse seems to train well over poly, and all the trainers enjoy how their horses work over it, but very few can figure out how to actually run over it?

As time goes on and as poly becomes more and more of a factor at many tracks here in the US, I feel that maybe people need to look in the mirror more than making the FACTS known. These trainers should at least look very close to their own operations on which races they enter their horses in, how to handicap each race, and most importantly, give their riders proper instructions for the race. I have seen from ineffective to just plain pathetic rides given in many of these polytrack races. Jockeys appear to still have little patience and bad judgement.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by pba1817

Why is it that EVERY horse seems to train well over poly, and all the trainers enjoy how their horses work over it, but very few can figure out how to actually run over it?

As time goes on and as poly becomes more and more of a factor at many tracks here in the US, I feel that maybe people need to look in the mirror more than making the FACTS known. These trainers should at least look very close to their own operations on which races they enter their horses in, how to handicap each race, and most importantly, give their riders proper instructions for the race. I have seen from ineffective to just plain pathetic rides given in many of these polytrack races. Jockeys appear to still have little patience and bad judgement.

There is a big difference between training and racing. All horses like training over polytrack because it is a much kinder surface. There's much more give to it. It's much easier on the horses. But just because the surface feels good to gallop over, it does not mean that a horse will get a great grip of the surface when they are all-out, running their hardest. Don't get me wrong, I think that most horses handle it fine. If I had to guess, I would say that 80-90% of horses handle it fine. That's not bad at all. There is no such thing as a surface that all horses like. Over the years, there have always been horses that liked Santa Anita but did not like Hollywood Park and vice-versa.