Quote:
Originally Posted by MJC922
I haven't studied this case nearly as closely as I would need to in order to pinpoint any specific timing error but as I've said many times before the 'wind' can have a very significant impact on times. In particular windy days out of the chute at 1M is going to be one of the absolute worst-case scenarios for anyone using a speed chart. A stiff head or tailwind will significantly alter the fractional-final time relationships as well as the distance to distance relationships by several fifths easily. You would need a completely different speed chart for a windy day at Belmont vs no wind. I doubt one figure-maker in 1000 does, maybe Ragozin's team. Even then it's not going to be a constant, the impact is variable throughout the course of a race in both speed and direction. I watched the third race for example, very strong gusts can be heard while they were waiting for a start and the flag was whipping around pretty good. I thought I heard Beyer say on the Byk show that the first quarter seemed slow at 23-2/5 for the Champagne. I dunno about that one. Anyway with that being said there are many timing errors over the course of a year of racing. Some are typos, others are malfunctions and then we have the ones that appear to be errors but are skewed due to more extreme conditions where the clock is not always entirely aligned with the quality of the effort.
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All we ask for as figure makers is accurate times, we can handle the rest from there. I know I account for wind as much as possible, and I'm sure Beyer does too.
The other thing that would be nice is if the listed run ups were actually correct. The more races I check, the more I think they are just made up. NYRA mistimed a race on Thursday at 6f on the inner turf with the rail at 27 feet. They listed the run up as 80 feet. When I checked other similar races from this year alone, they have runs ups as 80, 84, 104, 110, and 120 for various races and the gate is in the same place give or take a few feet. There isn't a lot of wiggle room for the turf gaps. It is like they just intentionally screw with you.
Give us an accurate time and the real race distance and we can take it from there.
