Turf route vs sprint.

[gillenr]

Over the past years, it appears more sprints are being carded than routes. Is this true or just my perception. I consider one turn a sprint except Bel less than a mile on both courses.
Thanks

[thespaah]

Over the past years, it appears more sprints are being carded than routes. Is this true or just my perception. I consider one turn a sprint except Bel less than a mile on both courses.
Thanks
I think the same thing..

[Rise Over Run]

Who besides Belmont and Woodbine card any "route" turf races over 7f with only 1 turn?

This is no different than what is going on with dirt races. Belmont only cards two 2-turn dirt races per year, Brooklyn and Belmont Stakes and my guess is the Brooklyn gets shortened to 9 furlongs over the next 5 years. Outside of the classic races and with relatively few exceptions, the only time 9 furlong races are carded on the dirt is because of track configuration problems to allow for a reasonable distance before the first turn.

There is no stamina left in thoroughbred racing, hasn't been for well over 20 years.

[Overlay]

Mike Nunamaker omitted turf sprints completely from studies such as Modern Impact Values back in the '90's, since he was unable to find his established minimum sample of 100 races (out of a total universe of 11,700 races) on which to base valid findings. Dave Schwartz's more recent Percentages and Probabilities 2012 (which draws upon a population of over three times as many races) covers all turf categories except maiden races (of any distance) for 3-year-olds and up, so turf sprints must at least be more prevalent now than they formerly were.

[PhantomOnTour]

During the Belmont spring/summer meet in 2012 they ran more turf sprints than 1m turf races - not sure about all turf routes combined though.
They have definitely become more prominent.

IMO a sprint and route are determined by distance, not the number of turns negotiated.
At Newmarket they run 10f on a straight course.
At Delta Downs they run 6.5f around two turns

[CincyHorseplayer]

I don't think that's true.I usually bet NY racing all year but look at every turf and maiden race in the form.I see some cards get wise and put 2-3 sprints in there but it's dominantly a mile or better.I don't mind turf sprints at 6f or better.Those less drive me totally insane.It's asinine IMO.

[NJ Stinks]

I don't think that's true.I usually bet NY racing all year but look at every turf and maiden race in the form.I see some cards get wise and put 2-3 sprints in there but it's dominantly a mile or better.I don't mind turf sprints at 6f or better.Those less drive me totally insane.It's asinine IMO.

I'm no fan of 5 or 5.5 furlong turf sprints either. Too much can go wrong with so-so starts by frontrunners and traffic problems with closers.

In short, it feels too much like playing the slots. :ThmbDown:

[RonTiller]

USA & Canada
Thoroughbred
Turf Races Only
Yr Spr Rte
1995 747 3882
1996 694 3715
1997 848 3882
1998 995 3881
1999 1066 4117
2000 1166 4162
2001 1240 4317
2002 1258 4210
2003 1230 3769
2004 1312 4016
2005 1602 4202
2006 1658 4067
2007 2047 4179
2008 1976 3970
2009 1863 3700
2010 2070 3960
2011 1986 3783
2012 2090 4181

Ron Tiller
HDW

[DeltaLover]

I used to dislike turf sprints and even routes on the turf were not my favorable bets for long time. I guess this has to do with the fact that where I became a horse addict there was not turf racing at all, so the green seemed a bit odd to me during my first years of US betting. It is a long time though, that this is not the case anymore; for my betting habits surface and distance represent completely neutral factors whether I will bet the race or not.

Actually I dare to claim, that my best results are coming from turf racing today. Of course the handicapping process is slightly different but the main idea is always the same regardless of surface and track condition... I still do not like betting off turf events though, mainly to the fact that the fields tend to be very small due to the scratches, rather to the surface change which I think I can handle easily.

The few races I am willing to pass are those that consist of a very limited number of horses (7 or less) or contain a lot of first time starters... Going through my records I can see that races where most of the fields looks paper dead (lots of bad running lines) show the best betting results regardless of the surface...

[Robert Goren]

I don't mind turf sprints anymore, but turf routes are bet tougher for me. Just far too many horses winning after long layoffs.

[PhantomOnTour]

I don't think that's true.I usually bet NY racing all year but look at every turf and maiden race in the form.I see some cards get wise and put 2-3 sprints in there but it's dominantly a mile or better.I don't mind turf sprints at 6f or better.Those less drive me totally insane.It's asinine IMO.
What I said was:

there were more turf sprints than 1m turf races at Bel last year
(that's a FACT)
but I wasn't sure that sprints outnumbered all routes

[gillenr]

Thank you Ron. Those numbers are what I expected.

[CincyHorseplayer]

What I said was:

there were more turf sprints than 1m turf races at Bel last year
(that's a FACT)
but I wasn't sure that sprints outnumbered all routes

As long as they are 6f or better they don't bother me at all.