Which One is harder to drive?

[TheEdge07]

a.Mile track
b.Half mile track

imo 1/2 track..

[mrroyboy]

1/2 mile track is harder. I think mostly everyone agrees with that. Mile tracks require more stamina from the horses so the horse's ability becomes more important.

[cmp92]

Never drove a horse, but I'd say the half mile tracks are tough because you only have two, maybe three good spots to win from. I don't have exact statistics, but on a half mile the winner is most often on the lead or in the pocket. You might get a winner that came first over, but very few horses or drivers can successfully swing three wide down the backstretch on a half mile track and win.

On the big track, drivers have more options. But the racing could still be pretty tough. The outer flow seems to be more active compared to a half. The turns are not as tight, so horses on the outside might not lose as much ground as they would on a half. The stretch and backstretch are longer, which gives drivers more room to work with. Thus, the driver can win from the back of the pack. The only downside is that the big tracks might encourage more movement throughout the field, so drivers can easily find themselves in a box if they don't think strategically. The bigger fields on the big track can easily block horses and get in the way of horses trying to move.

I'd say on a half you have to be pretty aggressive. On a mile you certainly need to be strategic, in combination with being aggressive or conservative. They both have their difficulties, but the big track has to be tougher. You can win from anywhere, but you have to work out your trip tactically.

[Just a Fan]

I would say a half mile for pretty much the same reasons outlined in the previous posts, but bad drivers do seem to find a way to be just as bad on the big track as the small track. You would think that at a track like CalX, the driver stats would show less deviation from the mean because the homestretch would allow ample opportunity for horses to recover from driver error, but the Mike Jarvises of the world seem to be equally unsuccessful on any size track.

[LottaKash]

I would say a half mile for pretty much the same reasons outlined in the previous posts, but bad drivers do seem to find a way to be just as bad on the big track as the small track..

Imo, "bad drivers" are bad no matter where they race....I have learned one thing about bad drivers at the bigger tracks, they are worse at the bigger tracks.... An ill timed or wrong move in the wrong part of the race gets magnified even more at the bigger ovals....

Take Balmoral Park....I used to play that track quite a bit years ago....I think it was that the driver and trainer colony was so much better than it is today...But many years ago, when the scandals hit there big time, many drivers left there in droves, either because they were chased out of there or perhaps they got tired of all the BS going on there....I am not sure anymore which is which or who was who...

In any event, I have "almost" completely abandoned that place in more recent times...By almost, I mean there are some of my tried and true angles that simply still work there, but they are few and far in between....

Every now and then when the spirit moves me, I will go there and see what I can do there, you know for the challenge of it, or maybe perhaps to see if something may have changed there...(Not yet I am afraid, as it seems worse than ever to me, haha)...

And on those nites, I will make a timid bet or two on one of my T&T Angles, and you know what, while there are some decent enough trainers, there are certainly not enough good drivers to make them go as good as they should go.....I shake my head sometimes in disbelief at some of the stupid drives that some of these guys make.....

I am not that vain or arrogant to think that all my plays should work, as I still make many a silly mistake, but I am not so inept or inexperienced enough tho to believe that a Sears, a Campbell, a Tetrick or a Pierce couldn't have done better with my play.... I laugh at the driver colony there....Now with Oosting a drunk and Tetrick gone out of there, they are left with some very laughable scenarios.. Maybe Dave McGee is the last of the really good ones left....Same with Cal-X ,imo.... they suck...I wouldn't bet a nickel there..

Perhaps I am spoiled to the point that I rely on the plentifullnes of good driver colonies at the better Right-Coast harness tracks....And sure all or any of those drivers can make a mistimed move or do a poor rate job from time to time, but that is the human element....But I believe that they know when they muck up and I believe that....The top drivers can be a top driver "anywhere"...

[imofe]

The thing about some of these bad drivers is that they do not just ruin the race for that horse, but for the other horses also because of the crazy moves they make.

This question is tough because unless your horse is a great closer, a big track can be a disaster for a bad driver also.

[mrroyboy]

All of this is true