http://www.drf.com/news/local-materi...ta-anita-track
It will be 90% sand (2 types of natural, washed sand from a SoCal quarry) and 10% clay (found near Corona). Installed over a 7-inch-thick rock base.
Much more information in the article.
http://www.drf.com/news/local-materi...ta-anita-track
It will be 90% sand (2 types of natural, washed sand from a SoCal quarry) and 10% clay (found near Corona). Installed over a 7-inch-thick rock base.
Much more information in the article.
First rule: Try always to do what's right for the horse. The people part will work out. -- Josh Pons, Merryland, 2007
Big mistake. Why didn't they import New York dirt? Fools.
cost - there are two quarries about 10 minutes away from santa anita where they can get material when needed.Originally Posted by Spahny
i'm dense, but now i get it.
Last edited by breezing; 10-29-2010 at 10:48 AM.
Don't let that sarcasm obfuscate what an embarrassment it is that the pro-ride surface has already been torn up less than a year from last year's Breeders Cup. A failed experiment that will leave the integrity of the results of the last two Breeders Cup pro-ride races open to subjective interpretation forever.
Maybe just an asterisk similar to the steroid era of baseball. And the nicest part of the whole thing is that the Classic winner from a year ago, who is also undefeated and has been primarily an AWS runner, will go again over the dirt at Churchill. I don't know what correlation to draw from this other than the Classic is the premier race of the event, and so the biggest star from those 2 SA events can give us a great barometer of just how much we take away from the past two.
The bigger question to me in the present tense is as follows; There was endless talk that the next surface would be the best dirt surface they could find, regardless of cost. Now,, suddenly, the best dirt in the world is 10 miles down the road? I know for a fact that the sand of CA was thought of as far less than optimum for the AWS that was installed both at SA as well as the other CA installations.. This is a surface without any clay, so the sand is at an absolute premium. Now they use what is normally thought of as inferior washed sand, and there does not seem to be any loam in the clay mix either. If there is they would be folly not to mention that fact.
Loam is a fabulous cushioning agent, and is thought by everyone in this business as ideal, whether or not it is readily available. Washed sand and clay from the dry , almost desert-like regions of southern CA does not inspire a world of confidence in me. Will the track work out just fine? Maybe so. But it's a far cry from the "save no expense" line of BS we have been getting since the decision was originally made to go back to "the highest quality, and safest dirt we can find". Once again, shame on Frankie.
Men write many fine and plausible arguments in support of Monarchy, but the fact remains that where every man has a voice, brutal laws are impossible. -- Mark Twain
No more than the results of the flooded sh**hole event of 2007.
I'm guessing Spahny meant the death of George Washington.
Last edited by islandgirl45; 10-29-2010 at 12:11 PM.
Nope. I meant that if I didn't like the result then I can blame the track. 2007 was run over crap. The results were questionable. I wasn't wrong. I am happy now. That settles it. Except for Midnight Lute, who freaked on both Monmouth sh** and Santa Anita plastic. I could question his worthiness twice, I suppose.
No. I'm pretty stupid. Keep explaining it to me. Don't give up.
Acually. I'm sorry. I'm very upset. I found out that my dog has been writing bad checks and throwing parties while I'm at work. You should never post while angry.
Now that I'm thinking more clearly I've decided I was too hard on Midnight Lute since he did win over 2 fake tracks. But it does make me question Curlin a bit since he couldn't manage that.
Using the exception (Midnight Lute) to try and prove the rule is intellectually dishonest. Several "win and your in" dirt horses didn't even ship to SA because of the suface, and horses that prepped on dirt were 0-43, including absurd results like Indian Blessing not winning the F&M sprint.
4 of the 6 horses in the last two Breeders Cup Classic trifecta have never raced on dirt, including 3 Euros. Shouldn't they be heading over in droves for this year's Classic.
Last edited by MonmouthGuy; 10-29-2010 at 02:08 PM.
dup post.
This site is great.
Why don't we just mail letters to each other?
Last edited by Spahny; 10-29-2010 at 04:31 PM.
You like to say this a lot, don't you?
Using 2 Breeder's Cup Classics as an acceptable and usable sample size would stop most people from making such a charge but you still bull forward. If I had any respect whatsoever for your opinions I would be disappointed in it but I'm not really even surprised.
There will be quite a lot of trainers bringing horses off of synth preps to Churchill this year. Let's see how they do.
What manner of horse is Lookin' At Lucky? Zenyatta? Evening Jewel? Giant's Causeway or Sakhee?
Blind Luck?
Ok. I'm done with you.
I obviously can't speak for Frankie and Santa Anita, but it is my impression that getting the materials for the surface from Irwindale has more to do with time than money. It is not possible to get a surface shipped in (with all of California's laws about importing schtuff) in a timely manner.
Come on, everybody...the bickering is amusing, but a tad ridiculous. Everybody knows they can put yard clippings down as the surface and it would be better than the synthetic crap they had at Santa Anita. Racing will be so much better when they go back to dirt, doesn't matter if they get it from Timbucto or from digging a huge frickin hole in a field somewhere. I've always thought that the only use for the synthetics is pretty much for cold weather racing, anyways.
Looks like the inner dirt training track is now synthetic or is that just sand that looks like South Beach? A lot of the dirt is already down on the main.
http://www.santaanita.com/content/workout-webcam
Last edited by Bozo; 11-13-2010 at 10:46 AM.
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