1. When you use the dead rail designation in a two turn race, what exactly does it mean? Does the horse have to be in the one path, two path or less,etc for a certain percentage of the race? For one or both turns, or something else?

2. When this subject came up last yr, I vaguely recall that you suggested some forward looking test to determine if your dead rail designation would be proved correct. If so, what was it?

3. My last question has to do with trip & ground loss in the two turf marathons. I thought the syndicate I was part of did more research & was better prepared than any previously, so we knew for example that the turf races would be run in lane 5 to accommodate the number of starters, & what that was likely to mean in terms of ground loss. What we didn't know, & what as far as I know no one has yet commented on, is that for these rarely run distances the starting gate appeared to be placed in such a way that the 4 inside post positions were angled in to head directly into the rail. The charts seem to confirm that these horses were at a disadvantage in the early stages, which produced more trouble lines than usual that early in a race, as the disadvantaged horses tried to straighten out to get into the race. I forgot to ask my wife to tape the races, though I doubt that the coverage included the kind of head on shot that would confirm or refute my theory. Presumably, your tapes do. What do they show?

Thks in advance.