I actually think that today's top turf horses are better than today's top dirt horses at least in route races. There are so few dirt horses that are bred to go route anymore. The law of extremes of a larger population of turf routers means more turf horses 2-21/2 standard deviations out from the average. Even if the average dirt horse is a couple lengths better than the average turf horse, the larger population of turf horses will more than make up the difference. Turf sprinters are different story however although that gap is narrowing rather quickly. With turf horses being less brittle than their dirt counterparts, we will see more and more turf races and turf horses even though most bettors still prefer dirt races.
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Some day in the not too distant future, horse players will betting on computer generated races over the net. Race tracks will become casinos and shopping centers. And some crooner will be belting out "there used to be a race track here".
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