Chuckles,

My remark about Beyer being the country’s “worst handicapper” was partly a joke in which Andy himself goes along with, though his handicapping skills don’t quite match his figure making skills. I was very serious about how irresponsible of him to be against Polytrack despite the fact that he believes, and gives example after example of the surfaces greater safety. Look at the fact that it’s endorsed by virtually every trainer or jockey who ride on it. Since it’s installation at Turfway catastrophic breakdowns have dropped from 16 to 3.!!! All other evidence points to the same conclusion. How many horse and riders could be injured or killed in the 10 or 20 years you propose to decide which surface is safer. We have to go with what all the data and preponderance of evidence shows is safer at this point. I’m all for preserving tradition at the “meccas” but the lives of horses and riders comes first. In any case, if a homogeneity of racing surfaces means a fair and uniform racing surface along with a safer racing, I’ll take it. It’s not like predicting the variations of horses’ abilities and form cycles won’t present enough handicapping challenges. In any case, certain things take priority over some handicapper’s track bias angles.

Bob