Polytrack and Rain

[cosmo96]

I have never played polytrack in the rain. It is supposed to rain at Keenland this weekend for the Bluegrass Stakes. Even if the track is rated fast, I think there should be some effect. Do horses react differently with rain hitting them in the face?

[skate]

Well, they (horse) do like the rain.

Poly should bring less dirt to the face, especially the jocks.

Keenland is tough, either way.:cool:

[njcurveball]

The least the tracks could do is label Polytrack "wet fast" when it rains.

Just as horses have a preference for wet dirt, there will be some who prefer wet "fake dirt". Variants also need to take this into account.

One day the track is drenched, the next they scrape off the top layer, both days are labeled fast and the final times are 3 or more seconds different.

[BIG49010]

Seems like E types do better from my observations. Usually the track gets faster -vs- par also.

[Pace Cap'n]

Do they water poly tracks between races?

How drenched could "poly" get?

How many layers are there? What do they do with the layer they scrape off?

[sjk]

Turfway was using the water truck on Lanes End Stakes day.

[Golf and Horses]

I thought poly, cushion, tapeta, etc were supposed to be "All-Weather" tracks?
I know Santa Anita had their problems but aren't they always considered "fast"

[sjk]

In the early races that day many of the jocks seemed to be staying well off of the rail.

Perhaps someone thought there was a dead rail issue and the water truck was brought out to deal with it.

Don't know if they use it routinely (surely not when the temperature is below freezing).

[jma]

I have never played polytrack in the rain. It is supposed to rain at Keenland this weekend for the Bluegrass Stakes. Even if the track is rated fast, I think there should be some effect. Do horses react differently with rain hitting them in the face?

The Lexington area had six inches of rain total on Thursday the 3rd and Friday the 4th of April. The first day of racing at Keeneland was on Friday the 4th, so we have a very recent example of how the track played during and after heavy rain. So, you might want to take a look at the charts from the 4th and 5th and see if you can notice any patterns to how the track was affected and which type of horses ran best. It's a rather small sample and you might not learn anything too deep, but it would give you a very recent look at how the track played in what would have been deep slop at a regular dirt oval.

[silverbulletday]

From looking at the charts it seems like the middle of the race track was the favored place to be. While there were some wire to wires or E types, most that won in that fashion did so with easy fractions or seemed clearly the best in class. I'm going out this weekend, I live in St. Louis but its my "home" track. I'm sure I'll take a beating like always. It is brutal there for me, especially as of late. We will see.

[robert99]

I thought poly, cushion, tapeta, etc were supposed to be "All-Weather" tracks?
I know Santa Anita had their problems but aren't they always considered "fast"

No the track speed can be prepared to anything required by differential harrowing, rolling and watering.

[robert99]

In the early races that day many of the jocks seemed to be staying well off of the rail.

Perhaps someone thought there was a dead rail issue and the water truck was brought out to deal with it.

Don't know if they use it routinely (surely not when the temperature is below freezing).

Water takes time to drain towards the rail. The outer areas drain out first and are faster.

[Premier Turf Club]

KEE handles water just fine. Drains right through like it's supposed too. Rain has only a minimal effect on the surface making it marginally tighter. It's the temperature that needs to be watched. Anything above 50-55 and the track will play cuppier and be hard on small footed horses. Unless it's cold and the track is tight I think Pyro will have a tough time.

[maxwell]

I've seen it rain "cats and dogs" at WO and the poly looked no different at all ; no puddles to be seen.

I think Turf Club has the right idea : be aware of just about everything else.