Re: dumb weighters ny post page3 (548 Views)
Posted by:
Chuckles_the_Clown2 (IP Logged)
Date: September 21, 2005 04:26PM
miff,
its pretty clear, at least to me, the modern american racehorse is a very brittle animal. they've always been brittle, but now its a new level of snap, crackle, pop.
everyone in the industry knows this and theres been mass breakdowns on various tracks that developed issues. Developing safer tracks is clearly a big issue in the industry and it seems apparent theres been a consensus that deeper cushion makes for safer racing. Obviously theres a lot of factors in that.
You can read about the cushion depths at several track sites. I've done so, though haven't made a study of it. The salient question to me would be despite a deeper cushion can a modern track be as fast or faster than historically shallower cushion tracks? Factor in recoil and compaction and I'm not certain about that. Also factor in the changing substance makeup of the cushion and base and its a question with a lot of variables.
TGraph says the horses are faster and I tend to believe them. In the end though it doesnt matter. All that matters is that the figures for the current crop adequately reflect the difference in ability for the horses you're gonna bet upon...or buy...lol