Turfway mangles KY Derby preps.

[FenceBored]

Turfway Park has decided to move the Lanes End (http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/54695/turfway-moves-lanes-end-stakes-to-march-27) from March 20th to March 27th, i.e. from 3 weeks out from the Bluegrass to 2 weeks out and thus 5 weeks from the Ky Derby instead of 6. A number of horses have used the currently named Lanes End as a prep for the Bluegrass with that race being their final Derby prep. By shifting the dates at Turfway they may end up with shorter fields in either the Lanes End or the Bluegrass as running in both would make the Triple Crown campaign a 5 races in 10 weeks ordeal in an era of spreading races out.

[cj]

Both of those are pretty worthless preps these days anyway.

[PhantomOnTour]

Both of those are pretty worthless preps these days anyway.

Yep, why prep on poly if you are in Kent. and close to real dirt like OP, FG, even Tam?

My guess is that this years winner will have had his/her final prep on real dirt. Ditto for next year and so on.

In fact, the guys at OP must be ECSTATIC about poly as it has increased the magnitude of the Ark Derby (now a Gr1--coincidence?).

[ManeMediaMogul]

Both of those are pretty worthless preps these days anyway.

Hold Me Back and Hard Spun both came out of the Lane's End - I think writing it off is a mistake.

Why not prep on Poly? It will make you fitter for the paved mile and a quarter that Churchill offers on Derby Day.

[bisket]

only problem i have with horses prepping on poly is they don't get accustomed to dirt in their face. there isn't kickback that bothers the horse on poly. it can make betting on horses coming from poly a little tricky.

[CincyHorseplayer]

If the Santa Anita preps aren't producing Kentucky Derby winners then these synthetic preps are rendered even more irrelevant IMO.So who cares what dates they run.

Synthetics are taken very seriously within the industry but to me they are almost like a novelty act.