I have mixed feelings on Andy Beyer for a number of reasons. Yes he is one of the pioneers of explaining speed figures to the general public and his excellent books have been a real boon to handicappers by explaining his methodology. On the other hand, he is one of the worst handicappers in the country and is notorious for his long list of losing Derby picks threw out the years.
His columns are usually insightful and entertaining reading but in his article on Polytrack he has made a perfect ass of himself. He admits that Polytrack is a superior racing surfaced praised by trainers, jockeys (and the horses if they could talk) because it is safer and offers a much fairer surface. The number of serious breakdowns has dropped dramatically at Turfway since it's installation. Unfair post position advantages and dead or live rails are gone and neither closers nor pacesetters have an unfair edge.
Beyer finds this boring and claims it makes it too easy to pick winners. Quite frankly, Andy needs all the help he can get in that area. There will still be plenty of variables left and handicapping will remain a huge intellectual challenge. Mr. Beyer is afraid the game will become boring. Yeah, there’s nothing like seeing horses breakdown in front of your eyes to make the sport exciting, right Andy?

http://www.drf.com/drfNewsArticle.do?NID=72374&subs=0&arc=0

Bob