track conditon

[richiebee]

Marooned at home, waiting for the plumber.

Caught the simo from Suffolk on Channel 71. Before Race 1, they post on the in house TV something called a TRACK REPORT. The Track Report tells you something very general like \"track harrowed after training hours, will be harrowed between races, water added as needed\". Not real scientific, but thanks for sharing. I\'ve noticed the CDSN websites contain a similar bit of information.

I haven\'t looked for or at the NYRA track cushion posting at the track in years. Do they still post it near the overnights?

IF DRF has a track crew at major tracks every day, why dont they give a narrative account of what is being done to the track between each race?  This would make interesting reading. Do they ever harrow the track \"against the grain\" between races?

I am all for sharing information. The information regarding track maintenance and how it affects racehorse performance contains many variables. Does it matter if the tractors pulling the harrows are traveling faster or slower? Are there different settings for the water wagon? When is a track super trying to slow a track down rather than speed it up? In what instances is a track watered, but due to elements (heat, wind) the moisture is greatly evaporated before the race is run?

Do tracks get faster late in a day or a week, or is that when the faster horses are running?

There are many more scientific ways to differentiate the condition of a turf course than the utilization of five labels. If you thought the turf was good on BC day, leave that cookie for Santa. What does \"good\" mean, anyway?

My feeling is that with the amount of variables involved and the amount of observation and inquiry necessary even to identify the variables, I am better off letting a professional figure maker evaluate these conditions as they relate to performance. As CH stated somewhere, its all about how much time you have to put into handicapping; a product such as TG serves well those who cannot handicap with monastic like devotion.

[bobphilo]

richiebee Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My feeling is that with the amount of variables
> involved and the amount of observation and inquiry
> necessary even to identify the variables, I am
> better off letting a professional figure maker
> evaluate these conditions as they relate to
> performance. As CH stated somewhere, its all about
> how much time you have to put into handicapping; a
> product such as TG serves well those who cannot
> handicap with monastic like devotion.
 
Rich,

As I was reading the early part of your post, I was thinking the answer to the questiions you were posing was excactly what you stated in your conclussion. I agree with you. As I\'ve said before, some people are just working too hard with multiple variables which may or may not be responsible for a change in track speed and whose effects cannot be quantified, when by far the better method is to measure the factors that effect track speed by their total effect - the performances of the horses. I think Jerry does a good job of this and on the rare occasion when I don\'t agree, I can just do my own analysis with my own projections and perhaps re-interpretation of performances including my pace analysis. This works fine for me. Otherwise I\'d go crazy worrying about the multiple variables which are best seen in their effects and which Jerry already includes.
Hope your plumber doesn\'t keep you waiting too long.

Bob