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Zippy Chippy
05-06-2010, 02:44 PM
Anyone ever notice when they are on the backstretch and the turn there seems to be a huge cliff??? At one point on the backstretch they appear to be only 10-15 from a horse going offstride and taking the driver with him down to their imminent death! Is it an illusion of is it actually a 30-40 foot drop?

RaceTrackDaddy
05-06-2010, 10:43 PM
It looks worse than it actually is. With all the years of the limestone runoff the inside of the track which eventually runs down the sides of the hills.

Basically the infield gradually slopes down towards the bottom where a creek flows through the middle. The distance from the track level to the bottom is close to 90 or more feet. Attached is a arial from google.

You may be able to tell the cut grass lines on the inside of the right hill inside the track. They use a riding tractor for those areas and walk behinds for the other. It does look scarey online though.

Some horses have left the track and went down the hill a little but have been able to walk theirselves up. Plus the track installed a wooden fence some 30 to 40 feet from the end of the track surface into the grassy area.

Back in 2006 or 2007, they took off about 5 feet of the track surface and moved the material to Arden Downs (Wash Co fairgrounds) which is a couple mile away. When they finished there, the excess material was thrown over the inside of the hills around the track. It looked like Fred Flinstone should be working down there inside that quarry mining out the rock. They just did not have the area to dump it.

LottaKash
05-06-2010, 11:03 PM
Anyone ever notice when they are on the backstretch and the turn there seems to be a huge cliff??? At one point on the backstretch they appear to be only 10-15 from a horse going offstride and taking the driver with him down to their imminent death! Is it an illusion of is it actually a 30-40 foot drop?

Yeah., I always thought these same things, as well...It looks like a meteor or bomb crater on the screen...I always wondered what would happen if any horse happened to go off course enough to be swallowed up by the "illusion"....haha...

best,

Hanover1
05-08-2010, 10:28 PM
Have not raced there in over 20 years, but I remember that it was quite a drop from the paddock to the track. Won an 80k Sire Stake (from the 8 hole at 14-1 odds...lol) one time, and the colt was so tired afterwards he balked at going back up the hill, and we had to wait awhile.....unhook him, ect.