My head is spinning. Half the races today have the look, feel, and smell of a major inside speed bias. But we have also seen a dead closer, a just-plain-closer, a stalker, and a presser win. My conclusion? The Polytrack is speed-biased -- except when its not.
We do know that the main track is sitting on a radical edge today, however, and is far from the "norm," and we know that because of times, which are very fast. I just watched a horse named What Do You Mean, a 4yo gelding who lost three times in $10K maiden-claimers, wire a $17.5K N3L claimer while running six furlongs in 1:09.48. Can you say, "Turf Paradise" kids? And that's hardly an outlier on the day: $10K N3L claimers in race 2 went 1:09.77, and open $10K claimers in race 5 went 1:09.78.
The two two-turn races, though, weren't especially fast, and the speed died in both of them, for whatever that's worth.
Strong west wind today, too, blowing into the horses through the home-stretch.
Good day for trainer Chris Block who captured races 7 and 8, the former with Link to My Heart, the latter with Lalo's Baby Bear, who'd been off nearly a year.
