Slide? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Slide. (889 Views)
Posted by:
TGJB (IP Logged)
Date: June 08, 2004 04:53PM
Enough conspiracy theories, let's get to the good stuff.
Somebody PLEASE ask Friedman on their site whether they had the variant moving on Belmont day. The card took 8 hours to run, they watered the track after races 1 through 6, and not again, although rain sprinkled half an hour before race 9 and a drop before race 10. It is ABSOLUTELY CLEAR that the track got MUCH faster as the day went on and water was added, then got slightly slower again late, after the water stopped. I'm talkin about a 10 point slide here, from the first through the ninth, with no weather through the first seven-- something Ragozin and Friedman say is impossible (check out the Expo presentation that can be reached from our home page, if you have not already).
Given that it was the only 2 turn race, let alone the changing track, and the number of good ones not running their race, the Belmont figure was not rock solid, but it wasn't brutally difficult, either. Birdstone did run a new top (neg 1 1/4), which should come as no surprise. SJ "backed up" to a neg 3/4. Eddington and RA both got 3's, with Baileys ride causing him to finish 3 lengths behind Day. No one other than the Zito horses even paired their tops.
TGJB