The young engineer who agreed to review the research paper for me (pending an assignment designing satellites in outer space) warned against extrapolating data such as this, but did describe as "ridiculous" the edge one would obtain if: (a)what I'll call the "cushion effect" also applies to different track compositions & could be quantified; (b)a simple spreadsheet was prepared showing the times fast & slow horses ran, adjusted to reflect the cushion effect; & (c) one knew the cushion effect of the track in question prior to the race. But I digress.

Since nobody took the bait, the last sentence of my 2nd post was intended to raise the question of whether this isn't also an explanation of why some handicappers seem to be able to pretty accurately determine in advance if a horse has the kind of foot which will or will not be able to handle certain types of off tracks. Presumably, under the right conditions, a larger foot surface area results in more return of energy, which means less vertical force is necessary, which means the horse runs faster. Makes sense, or does it?