Thomas Roulston
11-01-2014, 02:41 AM
It's supposed to 9/10ths of a mile - 7 furlongs plus 132 feet, which would place the 7/8ths pole 132 feet past the finish line. Yet, watching the Breeders Cup grass races, I saw no evidence of a pole in what would be the appropriate spot beyond the wire.
I suppose it would make sense for them to have done that, since it would make the turf course 21 feet wider (see, it did help to pay attention to when they taught about the value of pi in trigonometry class: 132 divided by 2 equals 66 divided by 3.1416 equals almost exactly 21), so that they could get the gate in there more easily to run the maximum 14-horse fields that the Breeders Cup observes (for most of its races, including the turf races).
I suppose it would make sense for them to have done that, since it would make the turf course 21 feet wider (see, it did help to pay attention to when they taught about the value of pi in trigonometry class: 132 divided by 2 equals 66 divided by 3.1416 equals almost exactly 21), so that they could get the gate in there more easily to run the maximum 14-horse fields that the Breeders Cup observes (for most of its races, including the turf races).