Welcome to the world of Polytrack guys.
In the UK we have three tracks which are described as "All Weather".
Southwell uses a Fibresand surface
Wolverhampton uses Polytrack (Fibresand prior to Oct 2004)
Lingfield uses Polytrack (Equitrack prior to Nov 2001)
Just for those who don't know. Here's a quick summary of draw biases at the two Polytrack courses.
Lingfield
Prior to November 2001 Lingfield had an Equitrack surface. This was a particularily bad kick back surface which resulted in races where winners would be the ones leading from start to finish. No horse or jockey could cope with the kick back and thus races would be run at a fast pace. Due to the sharp triangle shape of the course low drawn runners had a natural draw bias.
When polytrack was installed the pace of the race slowed right down. There is very little kickback with polytrack. Jockeys realised that they didn't have to hit the turbo button at the start and ran races at more of a false pace. This had the effect of negating all the draw biases.
That was one reason for the demise of the extreme draw bias Lingfield used to have. Another is because of the way the track is worked on the final run in.
Polytrack is a versatile substance which can be worked to negate draw biases. One of the sales pitch comments is that "Polytrack can be worked to change the going accross the width of the track". In otherwords, if the course manager wanted the far rail to be slow, the middle of the track to be medium, and the stands side to be faster he can make it so.
At Lingfield I strongly believe that the far side of the final stretch is running much slower than the rest of the track. You never see horses scooting through up the rail there, and any front runners crumble quicker nearer the rail than say in the middle.
Wolverhampton
On the old Fibresand surface low was slow. Any horse drawn low (and staying low around the track) had virtually no chance of winning. Due to the drainage and deeper sand surface close to the rail the surface was very slow.
When polyrack was installed the low draw bias dissapeared and low numbers now have a big advantage in sprints.
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What will US punters make of the Polytrack? I think they will get used to it pretty quickly. Those who don't like track biases may warm to the fact that biases can be negated (but then surely there are as many who'd be against it).
Whilst their historic speed figures will be next to useless they should be able to make much more accurate and consistent records now due to the fact that Polytrack is rarely slow (unless the course is worked to be slow). In fact, polytrack is nearly always described as fast.
Gender Biases
I don't know about dirt races in the US but overhere our 'all weather' tracks have some pretty extreme gender biases.
For some reason, females don't perform so well on the polytrack and fibresand.
Obviously, this is because females are the weaker sex, and that allowances are in place to help counteract this. But the gender bias is stronger on all weather than on the turf track.
Here's a few examples of favourites in mixed gender races on turf and polytrack:
Turf
Colts 1.16 I.V. -6.7% ROI
Fillies 1.01, -11.4%
Geldings 0.88, -5.6%
Entires 0.84, -15.5%
Mares 0.79, -4.4%
Polytrack
Colts 1.33 I.V. +7.6% ROI
Geldings 0.94, -4.8%
Fillies 0.91, -7.2%
Entires 0.68, -34.9%
Mares 0.58, -46.3%
(Note only 2251 races analysed. You guys may not be used to the lower sample sizes here
)
Some say that the gender bias is due to the fact that all weather racing is of lower quality, and that males will dominate in this situation.
Others say that the gender bias exists because the female structure is not able to accelerate on this surface as well as males. The hind quarters, the shape of the hooves, or whatever, is different between the genders.
Whatever the reason, there is a distinct gender bias on this surface which is not as apparent on turf.
Just something for you guys to watch out for!
New Track Surface
