Richard asked:
I dont really understand about, what fast, good, dead, heavy, slow and sand mean in reference to horse racing. I am assuming that fast means that the track is hard and that heavy means that it is boggy and wet though im not sure. Any help is appreciated.
Brent
I dont really understand about, what fast, good, dead, heavy, slow and sand mean in reference to horse racing. I am assuming that fast means that the track is hard and that heavy means that it is boggy and wet though im not sure. Any help is appreciated.
Brent
Tags: Horse Racing, Reference, Track Conditions
mixture of mud from how much rain/snow makes for variances
Fast is usually a dirt or artificial Dry surface.
Wet/Sloppy is Dirt after or in the rain
Firm is a Dry Turf coarse
Yielding is a turf coarse
You would want to look to see if the horse has run or even won
on the different track. Some horses do not handle sloppy
tracks and may be scratched prior to the race.
fast is usually used for Dirt or Artifical,
good is in between slow and firm, u can say good to firm meaning its on the better side of good or good to heavy meaning on the slow side of good,
dead means the track is totally dry ,
heavy means very wet ,
Yielding is the wettest a track can be any wetter and it would be waterlogged
sand means it ran on a beach
I think this gives a good explanation of the definition of the various track conditions:
That said, it’s important to note that because there is no standard for track composition in terms of sand, silt, clay, loam, organic matter, and every track is different, each track plays differently. To cite one example, the track at Aqueduct has a high sand content because the dates run at Aqueduct are typically the wettest times of the year. So the track superintendent finds it beneficial to have a lot of sand in the track to assure fast drainage. The result is that when there has been a lot of rain, the main track at Aqueduct can be like a wet beach– it packs down and gets harder. You may get faster times on such a track than when the surface is rated “fast”.
Churchill Downs historically has had a high clay content in the track surface, with the result that the track can be very cuppy at best of times (”cuppy” means that when a horse strides on it, the hoofprint forms a “cup” on the surface of the track; it has depth, and it holds its shape rather than immediately crumbling) and can be really sticky and tiring when it gets wet.
A lot depends, too, on how the track superintendent deals with rainfall. At Santa Anita and Hollywood Park in the pre-synthetic days, the superintendents had enough time in most cases to get out the heavy roller equipment and “seal” the track before rain came. Basically when they seal the track, they’re rolling and compacting the surface so that instead of water penetrating and making the track muddy down deep, the water just runs off the surface and drains away. Of course, the problem with this is that even when they opened the track surface in preparation for the day’s racing, there was some compaction and the track would tend to get harder. During some of our rare wet winters, the track superintendent would sometimes have to close the track to exercise in order to do deep harrowing and conditioning of the subsurface and base after the track had been repeatedly sealed.
With synthetic surfaces, I think everyone, including the people who manufacture and install them, is still on a learning curve of what has to be done to keep the track consistant and safe in all kinds of weather.
From a handicapping standpoint, the important thing to remember is that each track is unique, and that you have to become familiar with what the weather conditions do to the the individual track surface.
Ya… Don’t over think this one.. Pretty much just what it says..
Dirt track.. Dry is fast.. rains a bit.. goes muddy.. rains a bunch goes sloppy. ect.
Fast is fast, good means medium speed, heavy is a slow turf,