Quote:
Originally Posted by Spalding No!
Another interesting thing is that many on that list ran on the west coast either successfully (Gentlemen, Skip Away, Sunday Silence, Bertrando) or relatively unsuccessfully (Artax, Formal Gold, Ghostzapper, Midnight Lute-ignoring a BC win).
Is there an issue inherent in the par times that were used establish the Beyer scale?
For example, are CA tracks simply too fast in general for a horse to really break out with a strong figure?
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IMO, it could have something to do with the surfaces.
The cushions are deeper now (for safety) and we've seen how synthetic figures and turf figured tended to be compressed from the top to the bottom. So the surface can do some strange things to figures.
That might be a partial explanation for why MSW and NW1 ALW races at the major tracks tend to be
faster these days but the Grade 1 stakes slower. The scale may have been compressed due to the different surfaces and the way the races develop.
Also, I don't have hard data to prove this, but I've seen enough examples to be pretty sure I'm right. On days when the track is lighting fast and carrying speed a little better than usual, you'll see some surprisingly big figures that are then not duplicated. Those might be rarer days now that were more common place years ago.
