In a TV interview Mark stated that he and Andy Beyer did extensive research on the weight factor and the ground loss factor in races and concluded they are not significant to the final figure.The weight up to three pounds was completely no factor and beyond three pounds was not significant(1 beyer point per two pounds)

Regarding ground loss they conclude, on dirt racing only,(not turf),that horse racing wide are sometimes benefiting from a much better wide racing surface(eg BELMONT)where the outside path is often firmer than the inside paths.They further concluded that the Rags and the TG#'s never account for "live" outside paths when making their #'s thereby producing a poor number relative to the reality of the dead inside/superior outside paths. Comments please JB.



miff