TGJB -

You have frequently posted on this site that you make your figures off the horses and that, after this method is used for a while, your database gets tighter and tighter. Now that you've been making figures on several poly- or cushion- track surfaces for a while, I wonder if you can shed some light (without giving away any proprietary information) on how you are going about the start-up process with those surfaces.

For example, did you use dirt or (generally slower) turf figures as a starting point? After the surface has been in use for a while, do you do races off all of the horses, or primarily off those that have run over the surface? Given the limited data set and the minimal maintenance the surface receives (except in California), did you start by assuming very little change in the speed of the surface? Are Turfway figures useful for the Keeneland surface and vice versa, or is each surface pretty unique? Have you noticed the database getting tighter?

Thanks as always.

BitPlayer