One Mile dirt races returning at Saratoga

[affirmedny]

Originally Posted by cj

A one turn mile is currently a classic distance at Aqueduct since it takes about 2:00 to complete.

"The slowest 2 minutes in sports"

[Al Gobbi]

There was a 1 1/8 mile race at Charles Town (3 turns) several years ago that was run in over 2:00

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by cj

A one turn mile is currently a classic distance at Aqueduct since it takes about 2:00 to complete.

Maybe they can enter some trotters.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by affirmedny

https://www.news10.com/10-in-toga/sa...on-main-track/


The chute was originally dismantled after the 1972 season to accommodate additional parking. It was brought back briefly in 1992 when 25 races started in the chute.

At some point, one of the NYRA guys like TLG or someone else probably needs to settle this, but you don't just "bring back a chute" for a year and then discontinue it again. Racetrack construction is costly and a complicated process, and if they had actually reconstructed the chute in 1992, they wouldn't have deconstructed it again the next year- it would have sat there for awhile. Plus, I think I even went to Saratoga in 1992 (not sure about that, but I think so) and I think I would have remembered it there. My guess is classhandicapper is right and they just started the races on the turn (an old NYRA tradition, see, e.g., 1 1/4 mile races at Belmont, or the 1 1/2 mile races at Aqueduct (including the Belmont Stakes!) in the 1960's when Belmont was being rebuilt).

FWIW, you can type in Saratoga Race Course here and see the 1986 and 1997 satellite images, and they look exactly the same at the top of the clubhouse turn- doesn't look like anything was constructed and then dismantled there:

https://www.historicaerials.com/viewer

But if I'm wrong, I'm wrong and would like to be corrected.

[affirmedny]

Originally Posted by dilanesp

At some point, one of the NYRA guys like TLG or someone else probably needs to settle this, but you don't just "bring back a chute" for a year and then discontinue it again. Racetrack construction is costly and a complicated process, and if they had actually reconstructed the chute in 1992, they wouldn't have deconstructed it again the next year- it would have sat there for awhile. Plus, I think I even went to Saratoga in 1992 (not sure about that, but I think so) and I think I would have remembered it there. My guess is classhandicapper is right and they just started the races on the turn (an old NYRA tradition, see, e.g., 1 1/4 mile races at Belmont, or the 1 1/2 mile races at Aqueduct (including the Belmont Stakes!) in the 1960's when Belmont was being rebuilt).

FWIW, you can type in Saratoga Race Course here and see the 1986 and 1997 satellite images, and they look exactly the same at the top of the clubhouse turn- doesn't look like anything was constructed and then dismantled there:

https://www.historicaerials.com/viewer

But if I'm wrong, I'm wrong and would like to be corrected.

Don't know, these two paragraphs are from the same article and appear to say 2 different things. If I took it literally it would appear in 1992 they used the chute.


Upstate, NYRA officials told the board that they plan to “reconstruct” a chute at Saratoga Racecourse that will allow for the running of one-turn mile dirt races at the track for the 2022 meet. The Wilson chute allowing for one-mile races was dismantled in 1972 to provide additional parking, although NYRA ran 25 races using the old chute in 1992.


In the decades after the Wilson chute was dismantled, NYRA carded one-mile races that started in the middle of the first turn, but inside posts had a huge advantage. Saratoga stopped conducing mile dirt races in the early 1990s.


https://www.drf.com/news/belmont-fal...urn-mile-races

[Tom]

I was there for some of those mile races in 92, and I think they did start on the turn now that I think about it.

[cj]

I don't believe the chute was there when they ran mile races in the 90s, as many have suggested. My memory isn't always great but I feel like I would have remembered that. Here are a few charts from 1992, but they don't really provide any help since footnotes aren't there.

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqb...AY=D&STYLE=EQB

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqb...AY=D&STYLE=EQB

[Tom]

Anyone have an old program from 92? Or DRF?
They would have the track diagram in them. There used to be a website where they were scanning old DRF into pdf files you could thumb through. Can't find the site...

[the little guy]

Doesn't anyone here read the TDN?


https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.co...n-track-miles/

[Tom]

Oh boy. Now I can hardly wait!

[Tom]

Steve Byk posted a photo on his site.....

[cj]

Very similar to ElP:

[cj]

Post position study for 1m races at ElP:

[the little guy]

I really do appreciate, and understand, that anything with Saratoga attached to it gets people excited. However, seems like an awful lot of unnecessary hand wringing going on. We run, what, at most, five dirt races a day up there? So, other than off the turf races, which thankfully have been few and far between in recent years, how many of these races are going to be offered? Furthermore, as handicappers and bettors, aren't we supposed to like things that might confuse other bettors? Tom showed some data, a limited sample for sure, but maybe it offers some clues that might help give us some sort of betting advantage.

It's all a big puzzle. Put the pieces together. Isn't that what we like?

[BarchCapper]

Originally Posted by cj

Post position study for 1m races at ElP:

I find it helpful when these charts include a row for "Outside" - with this we can figure out how many races each PP had as the outside post, but not the performance of all the outside horses taken together.