Hotstufanthensome -- Oct 22, 2005

[SoCalMan2]

Is there a story behind the negative 2 that Hotstufanthensome ran at the Meadowlands in the CliffHanger Handicap on October 22 2005?  I realize he won by 15 lengths and Stormy Atlantic (who finished second) is not a bad horse, but the figure still looks jarring.  In my view, that figure probably could have easily won the BC Turf.  I can see in the PP that Beyer gave it a 105 which is probably comparable, but the running line looks very strange.  It was a mile and 1/16 and the raw final time was 1:54.2 (which looks like a weak time for a mile and an eighth not to mention a mile and a sixteenth).  The fractions were also bizzare -- 25 seconds first quarter, 26.8 seconds second quarter, 27.6 seconds third quarter, and the last quarter average speed was 28 seconds.  It appears the first quarter in 25 seconds must have been blazing.  Were the rails set really strange?  Was the soft turf unusual?

[miff]

That race was run over a turf course beyond boggy. The DRF variant of 73 and the raw time tells the story. That figure was checked and is consistent with most other data. The caveat is that the fig should be looked at in terms of the conditions of that night and would be more relevant if Hotf ever runs back on a boggy course.For a horse with such lofty figs, he hasn\'t won very often lately.

The writer was kind regarding the trip of Revved Up who was brutilized by Castro and now gets Prado.

Mike