3 1/2 Furlongs at CBY?

[Thomas Roulston]

That's crazy.

I've seen a diagram of it: The chute branches out three-quarters of the way up the far turn, and is 1/16th of a mile long - similar to Keeneland's 4 1/2-furlong chute, except Keeneland's chute is much longer, and Keeneland's turns are not as tight (5/16ths of a mile long to Canterbury's 1/4 of a mile).

[toddbowker]

Yep, we used it for 2YO races, and also for 770yd mixed races.

[Thomas Roulston]

But the track record is held by a 4-year-old - Miss Missile, :38 4/5, on August 9, 2009.

It could also be used to run races at 1 7/16 miles - but so far, there have been no such races.

[Tom]

Get ready for "about" 1 mile and 7/16.
Horses who tire in the stretch during the Belmont Stakes will line up for them.

[toddbowker]

Wasn't there in 2009, so don't know. Might have been part of their Extreme Race Day?

[Thomas Roulston]

1 7/16 miles actually makes more sense than 3 1/2 furlongs, because at 1 7/16 miles there wouldn't be the same mad dash coming out of the gate, and thus less of a disadvantage to the horses drawing the outside posts (this is why 1 3/8-mile turf races, which have a 1/8-mile run to the first turn, are usually run at tracks with 7-furlong turf courses, while 7 1/2-furlong turf races, which have the same length run to the turn, often are not run at these same tracks).

And remember the Gallant Fox Handicap at Aqueduct in the pre inner-track days? It was run at 1 5/8 miles - with no run to the first turn! I don't know how they got away with that.

[toddbowker]

Well, I was there in the beginning, and can tell you that the main purpose was 770 yard QH races. The first year or two they had a straight QH meet of about 10 days after the thoroughbred meet, and before the harness meet.

On that track configuration, you also couldn't really run a 4 furlong race, so the early 2YO races were at 3 1/2 F to flatten out the turn.

I don't believe they've ever run 1 7/16 miles.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by Thomas Roulston

1 7/16 miles actually makes more sense than 3 1/2 furlongs, because at 1 7/16 miles there wouldn't be the same mad dash coming out of the gate, and thus less of a disadvantage to the horses drawing the outside posts (this is why 1 3/8-mile turf races, which have a 1/8-mile run to the first turn, are usually run at tracks with 7-furlong turf courses, while 7 1/2-furlong turf races, which have the same length run to the turn, often are not run at these same tracks).

And remember the Gallant Fox Handicap at Aqueduct in the pre inner-track days? It was run at 1 5/8 miles - with no run to the first turn! I don't know how they got away with that.

An even better example was the Belmont Stakes starting on the turn at Aqueduct.

[chadk66]

Originally Posted by toddbowker

Well, I was there in the beginning, and can tell you that the main purpose was 770 yard QH races. The first year or two they had a straight QH meet of about 10 days after the thoroughbred meet, and before the harness meet.

On that track configuration, you also couldn't really run a 4 furlong race, so the early 2YO races were at 3 1/2 F to flatten out the turn.

I don't believe they've ever run 1 7/16 miles.

This is exactly right. I was there the first seven years cby was open.

[cj]

Originally Posted by Thomas Roulston

1 7/16 miles actually makes more sense than 3 1/2 furlongs, because at 1 7/16 miles there wouldn't be the same mad dash coming out of the gate, and thus less of a disadvantage to the horses drawing the outside posts (this is why 1 3/8-mile turf races, which have a 1/8-mile run to the first turn, are usually run at tracks with 7-furlong turf courses, while 7 1/2-furlong turf races, which have the same length run to the turn, often are not run at these same tracks).

And remember the Gallant Fox Handicap at Aqueduct in the pre inner-track days? It was run at 1 5/8 miles - with no run to the first turn! I don't know how they got away with that.

Is there some clamoring for 1 7/16 mile races that the rest of us don't know about? Tracks can barely care 9f races these days.