Q & A on Polytrack at Del Mar: Jeff Nahill and Richard Tedesco

[andymays]

For anyone that doesn't know Jeff Nahill is one of the finest, if the the finest reporter when it comes to Del Mar. Jeff doesn't sugar coat anything and tells it straight. In fact there have been times when he's gotten in a little trouble from track management for telling it too straight. ;)

If you're gonna follow Del Mar then follow Jeff Nahill of the North County Times! :ThmbUp:
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http://www.nctimes.com/sports/equestrian/racing/article_48a6b1f0-c5ac-5480-8e06-cbaa4b4c1ada.html?mode=story

Excerpt:

Q: What did you discover when you made your trips to Del Mar in the offseason?

A: When I came down here, I already knew that the synthetic racetracks are very temperature sensitive and you really have to watch them all day long. It's like babysitting. When I came here, I would come early, early in the morning like at 1 o'clock and see how the track was all day long. The track changes all day. That's just the animal we're dealing with.


Q: What is your game plan heading into Del Mar to keep the track uniform from morning to night?

A: We try to grade the track early in the morning when it's cooler. By the 7:30 (morning workout) break, it might be changing, so I might be adding water. I will be watering before the first race and I might be watering before other races to keep it uniform.


Q: Is there an ideal temperature you want to keep the track at?

A: About 90 (degrees). I kept Santa Anita in the 90s, and it was fine.

For all the Q & A click on the link.

http://www.nctimes.com/sports/equestrian/racing/article_48a6b1f0-c5ac-5480-8e06-cbaa4b4c1ada.html?mode=story

[Mike_412]

Best of luck to anyone that will be following Del Mar. There was a time when I enjoyed SoCal as a nice compliment to whatever track I followed during the afternoon (usually NYRA with a winter exception for Gulfstream), but not anymore. Horrendous quality, small fields, and arguably the worst track surface in the U.S. leads to zero interest for me. Good luck with the meet.

[Deepsix]

Heavy stuff.... Andy must be on a day off. Yawn.

[andymays]

Heavy stuff.... Andy must be on a day off. Yawn.
Well, you have maybe the best reporter for the Del Mar meeting in Jeff Nahill. Members who want to follow Del Mar might want to know the best source for straight news about the meet.

Richard Tedesco is in the opinion of many the most competent superintendant to handle synthetic surfaces yet. He is doing some different things this year and explains what he is doing. The track surface temperature can go from the low 60's in the mornings to 140 in the afternoons. He's going to be putting more water on it to keep it around 90 so it should be more consistent.

I dislike Polytrack/Synthetic as much or more than anyone in the country and probably won't attent the live meet for the second year in a row despite living 20 minutes away.

That still doesn't change the fact that these two guys (the reporter and the track man) are among the best at what they do.

[rrbauer]

It's refreshing to read what the new track super has to say. He's in a very tough position and for him to open the dialogue with a game plan for maintaining the surface consistency during the meet puts him between a rock and a hard place if his approach doesn't work. It (his information) beats the spin and PR-stuff that we routinely get from track management.

[kenwoodall2]

Very clear now- Water changes dirt, but keeps synthetics from changing!

[David-LV]

As long as the track remains synthetic it does not matter who they bring or what they do, you can't turn garbage into anything but more garbage.

Until dirt returns to California tracks you will never turn around the downfall of California racing. NEVER.

Good luck to those that thought that installing that poly-crap was going to save racing, because they are going to need it. The future of racing in California is very dim. Horses, owners, breeders, and trainers are leaving at an alarming rate. Returning to dirt might turn this mess around.

________
David-LV

[Tom]

David, maybe you didn't read the first post - this thread is to help those who will enjoy betting Del Mar this year. Maybe you could take your poly complaints to a new thread. ;)

Why does all the Monmouth knockers come out of the woodwork every time something positive is posted about a track and a management team that is trying to save racing in the State of New Jersey.

Change Monmouth to Synthetics and New Jersey to California.

[skate]

Two points


The economy has much to do with the racing game, Calif. is hurting.

The track problems are not necessarily the fault of Syn. tracks.
They )del Mar) have changed the banks, which makes confusion for Horses and Jocks.

Syn tracks were placed for the horses because the horses had to run on TOO FAST tracks, do to no ran, for the most part.

Things are just not as easy as they seem.

The Negative attitudes are by far the biggest drain to the game.

Taxes too high, you bet!

Voters put the people in office, that would be YOU the voters.:kiss:


Welp, maybe three points.:)

[andymays]

Two points


The economy has much to do with the racing game, Calif. is hurting.

The track problems are not necessarily the fault of Syn. tracks.
They )del Mar) have changed the banks, which makes confusion for Horses and Jocks.

Syn tracks were placed for the horses because the horses had to run on TOO FAST tracks, do to no ran, for the most part.

Things are just not as easy as they seem.

The Negative attitudes are by far the biggest drain to the game.


Taxes too high, you bet!

Voters put the people in office, that would be YOU the voters.:kiss:


Welp, maybe three points.:)

The typical synthetic surface with a one mile oval is banked at around 3% whereas most one mile dirt tracks are bank at around 5%.

Synthetic surfaces were designs to be slower surfaces. When they sped them up to play like dirt the banking became a problem.