Frank and 'bee,

Track bias is a tricky subject and many serious 'cappers don't believe in one. I can understand their thoughts on this even if I don't completely agree. I am VERY hesitant to declare one but felt confident stating what I did. My statement was concerning the horses at the top of the stretch but I went back and watched the replays and reviewed the charts to see how 1st call leaders (early speed) have done at the meet so far searching for a true "track bias." Here is what I found through the first 40 races.

On each racing day, BY CHART, there were 2 wire to wire winners as defined by the leader at the 1st call in the chart.

8/40, 20%.

Horses that were either first or second at the first call and won totaled 18 wins.

18/40, 45%

Then, I looked at the distances of the races won by horses first or second at the first call.

6.5 furlongs. 11 total races. [b](6/11 won by first call leader: 54.5%)[/b]. [b](7/11 won by horses first or second at first call: 63.6%)[/b]

7 furlongs. 3 total races (0/3 won by first call leader: 0%). (1/3 won by horses first or second at first call: 33.3%. NOTE: 44-1 winner).

1 mile. 12 total races. (1/12 won by first call leader: 8.5%). (3/12 won by horses first or second at first call: 25%).

1 mi 70 yds. 7 total races. (0/7 first call leaders, 0%). [b](5/7 won by horses in 2nd at first call, 71%).[/b]

1 5/16 miles. 5 total races (1/5 first call leaders, 20%). (2/5 won by horses first or second at first call, 40%).

1 1/2 miles. 2 total races. (0/2 first call leaders, 0%). (0/2 won by horses first or second at first call, 0%).

Klein's 2005 book [i]The Power of Speed[/i] studied 300 races at KD at 6 furlongs, 7 furlongs, 1 mile and 1 1/2 miles. His first call leaders and totals were very similar by distance and overall win percentage. 24/71, 33.8% at 6f, 7 of 48, 14.6% at 7f, 30 for 150, 20% at 1 mile, and 3 of 31, 9.7% at 1.5 miles, OVERALL 64 of 300, 21%. The exception being the 6.5 furlong distance of this meet is quite exaggerated in the small sample. There are 3 six furlong races and 1 6.5 furlong race on Thursday for you to wager on to see if the trend continues this meet.

As for the jockeys that have won the 8 "wire jobs" at this meet,..... interestingly, they are 7 different men: Lezcano, Lanerie, Flores, Albarado, Geroux (2), BJ Hernandez, and Leparoux.

Last, I broke down the 40 races by running style of the winning horse. 8 of 40, 20% were won obviously by Early Speed types, 1st call leaders who led at every call. 19 of the 40 races, 47.5% were won by horses as Pressers or Stalkers, defined as horses within 3 lengths of the lead at the first call but not leading. 13/40, 32.5% were won by Closers who were more than 3 lengths back at the first call (included in this last category is a winner who was 7th by 2 at the first call and then was 7th by 5 at 2nd call so b/c of his placement in 7th and further drop I used him in this category).

This last categorization lends itself towards no bias. Certainly, 9/3's date I've rethought my position and see it as FAIR after watching the replays and reviewing the charts and see more of a distance factor in regard to speed doing well. The other dates I do wonder about the wind in the stretch possibly keeping some horses from catching the horses much closer after the straightening for the home stretch or some other factor, possibly the condition of the course without rain for some time.

Best of luck Thursday if you play their last card of the meet. Buy some TG's for the real answers and get to work!! I've heard it is an impossible p5 sequence (I haven't studied a thing as I'll be working.....but rumor is it might pay an amount FrankD finds worthy of pursuit).

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Ingrid Mason's fastest horse in the world that failed at Saratoga on dirt, then worked on Saratoga turf after that race, Then failed on Saturday in a $100k poly stakes at Arlington.....747..... is entered on 4 days of rest for Thursday's 1 mile Ky Downs MSW race for 2yo, Race 7.

Is Steve Klein no longer involved publically in racing? Haven't heard a word about him in some time.