Gulfstream's floating turf course rail

[lansdale]

I had heard that GP's turf course rail was supposed to be permanently placed at a fixed distance this year. Guess I heard wrong. Just in the last week, races on the grass course (AFAIK there's only one) have seen the rail placed at distances of 12, 24, 64, 84, and 96 feet. If you believe, as I do, that rail placement affects the outcomes of grass races, this can be a problem. It also appears that GP no longer has their own scratches/changes page, where they used to post this information, having switched to Equibase's changes page. If anyone can tell me where, if anywhere, this information is posted, I'd be grateful.

Cheers,

lansdale

[cj]

There was never talk of not moving the rail. With a course that big, it would be silly to keep chewing up the inside of the course.

[Tom]

Caton Brader said that they would have an inner and main turf course this year just before opening day, on Down the Stretch. I have yet to see what the heck she was babbling about. :bang:

[cj]

They are still reporting them just like last year with rail settings from 0 to 96 feet in intervals of 12.

I'm not sure what dividing line was supposed to be for inner and outer.

[Tom]

I asked GP in an email, and the reply was........enough to make me never ask again! And to bet Tampa.

[lansdale]

They are still reporting them just like last year with rail settings from 0 to 96 feet in intervals of 12.

I'm not sure what dividing line was supposed to be for inner and outer.

CJ,

I may just be too dumb to figure this out for myself, but I'm no longer finding the rail distances on the scratches/changes page of their site, where they were last year. They're using Equibase for scratches instead of posting their own. I have nothing against them shifting the rail - I know zip about course maintenance - but I'd just like to know the numbers. Thanks for taking the trouble to reply and for your many insightful posts.

Cheers,

lansdale

[sandpit]

Caton Brader said that they would have an inner and main turf course this year just before opening day, on Down the Stretch. I have yet to see what the heck she was babbling about. :bang:

She was probably babbling exactly what management told her to say...the ol' "don't shoot the messenger"...

[NTamm1215]

CJ,

I may just be too dumb to figure this out for myself, but I'm no longer finding the rail distances on the scratches/changes page of their site, where they were last year. They're using Equibase for scratches instead of posting their own. I have nothing against them shifting the rail - I know zip about course maintenance - but I'd just like to know the numbers. Thanks for taking the trouble to reply and for your many insightful posts.

Cheers,

lansdale

The rail setting is posted in the DRF PPs at the end of the conditions and is mentioned by Larry Collmus when he does the changes. They're at 24 and 96 feet right now and I think will go to 48 and 120 before resetting to 0 and 72.

NT

[Trotman]

For all the bashing that Gulfstream is getting and IMO rightfully so if I was the braintrust at Hialeah I would be taking notes so not to make any mistakes on their comeback.

[lansdale]

The rail setting is posted in the DRF PPs at the end of the conditions and is mentioned by Larry Collmus when he does the changes. They're at 24 and 96 feet right now and I think will go to 48 and 120 before resetting to 0 and 72.

NT


NT,

Don't usually use the DRF, but should have thought of this. Thanks.

[DeanT]

I asked GP in an email, and the reply was........enough to make me never ask again! And to bet Tampa.

:D

My morning laugh.

[Tom]

The temp rail position is also listed in the EQBase entries

[lansdale]

The temp rail position is also listed in the EQBase entries

Tom,

These senior moments are staring to pile up. To add insult to injury, they took down my 20-1 shot in today's 9th. Maybe I can blame the rail placement. :-)

Cheers,

lansdale

[Dick Powell]

This is from column on brisnet.com that appears weekly. They have had problems in the past with communicating accurate information on the rail placement and this year it's even more important.

Nick: I don't think they can run 48 and 120 feet. If the rail is out 24 feet on the inner, the next step would be go back to zero. 48 would be too narrow as would 120 feet.

Gulfstream Park decided this year to run their turf races at two different rail positions during the day which creates an inner and outer turf course. It is vitally important to know the position of the rail placement but we were left scratching our heads on Monday for their fifth race.



Race five at 1 1/16 miles on the turf was originally scheduled to be contested on the “inner” turf course with the rail set at 12 feet. However, when the scratches and changes were announced before the races, we were told that the rail for race five was going to be placed at 84 feet.



Luckily for me, later in the day I heard them announce that the rail for race five would be placed at the original 12 foot distance. There was nothing in the crawl that lists scratches and changes where the rail would be placed and there is nothing on the Gulfstream Park web site that easily indicates the rail placement. The only way to find out on their web site is not to check their “scratches and changes” page but their “entries” page.



In the age of simulcasting, where 90 per cent of the wagering takes place away from the track and where many simulcast sites display only video and not audio of the races, not having the proper rail placement information visually available is inexcusable; especially so this year with two rail placements per day to announce.

[Tom]

Gulfstream is just not up to snuff to be considered a real racetrack.
They can go stick their rail anywhere they want to - I refuse to play a track run by total morons.