Pacific Classic on Polytrack is Meaningless Exercise

A Roughly Run Alabama Stakes Plus Preview of Travers and King's Bishop

A Column by Steve Davidowitz
August 22, 2007

When longshot Student Council took command of the $1 million Pacific Classic (G1) at the top of the stretch at Del Mar on Sunday, observers were not nearly as shocked as when he stopped the teletimer in 2:07 1/5.

Student Council was a deserving longshot, a horse with limited form on paper, but he did have some acceptable races on the synthetic tracks in Kentucky. That was, in fact, the principal reason he was bought for an undisclosed price and shipped out west to run in the richest race on the Del Mar schedule.

That notwithstanding, 2:07 for 1 1/4 miles is unheard of on a supposedly fast racing surface. Welcome to the age of Polytrack racing in America, where Thoroughbred horses barely exceed the speed of trotting horses and pacers who have to pull two-wheeled carts and drivers (who tend to weigh 30 to 50 pounds more than jockeys).

Indeed, the ultra slow nature of the Polytrack surface installed at Del Mar is turning some of the most important races of the summer into pure farce.

Earlier in the meet, the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap was clocked in 1:45 1/5 and the high-class Bing Crosby Sprint was clocked in 1:11 for six furlongs.Those clockings are approximately three to four seconds slower than most races in America at the graded stakes level. In lengths, that equates to about 16 to 20 lengths slower than normal.

The slowness of Del Mar's synthetic track races is only part of the perplexing nature of the 2007 Del Mar experience. It is becoming increasingly clear that the new Polytrack surface installed at Del Mar is a nightmare for some horses.

Bordonaro, the front running threat in the 7-furlong Pat O'Brien on Sunday, completely lost his action in the final furlong after failing to handle the strip. Although Greg's Gold and Sharp Cat performed as expected in that Grade 2, $300,000 sprint, the entire complexion of this important race was drastically altered by the way the surface negatively impacted Bordonaro. It also left many questions about the legitimacy of the actual outcome.

(Please note that I picked Greg's Gold to win the race in several public forums and predicted that Bordonaro wouldn't handle the surface. I mention this so there is no misunderstanding that my critique has anything to do with personal losses or gains.)

Lava Man, the doomed 6-5 betting favorite in the Pacific Classic, had won 17 races and more than $5 million in a fine career. Hopelessly lost on the surface, he failed to hold his stride together through the final quarter mile finishing sixth and getting his 10 furlongs in 2:08 and change. It was Lava Man's worst performance in a California race in three years.

Front runner A.P. Xcellent, who had failed to reproduce otherwise good form when he finished fifth in the San Diego Handicap on August 1st, reprised his dislike for this synthetic track after setting a moderate pace for six furlongs in 1:14 4/5. For those unfamiliar with the typical pace of American races at one mile or longer, 1:14 4/5 is a fractional split normally reserved for $5,000 claiming horses on traditional dirt.

This was a Grade 1 race for $1 million, a race offering an automatic entry ticket to the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Monmouth Park on October 27th! It wasn't an experimental event for inexperienced horses testing out a new racing surface. While upsets occur on every level of horse racing and top horses are not to be confused with robots, the chaos factor involved in Polytrack racing at Del Mar goes beyond the pale.

And it doesn't have to be like that.

Del Mar, to this point at least, has contributed to the problem through its stubborn resistance to suggestions offered from many quarters.

Consider this: Almost every trainer in Southern California is in favor of the synthetic track revolution - for the improved safety that the surface provides. As has been documented elsewhere, fewer catastrophic injuries seem to occur on synthetic surfaces. But there are other equally important subtleties to consider.

According to the same group of SoCal trainers, the Del Mar racing strip is "absolutely perfect" in the morning training hours. That is because the surface is given a natural dousing from the moisture laden, morning mist that covers the Del Mar coast until the noonday sun burns it off.

In other words, the Polytrack surface at Del Mar gets plenty of natural moisture in the morning but dries out swiftly under the sun. This baking process is the principal reason the surface loses its resiliency and becomes difficult for many horses to sustain their stride or hold their form.

The solution is in Del Mar's court. According to track superintendents in other regions where synthetic tracks have been in play, a light dousing of water periodically initiated during the racing card would go a long way to restoring the resiliency seen during the morning hours. Yet to this point, Del Mar track officials have decided to leave things as they are, ostensibly to permit the British company that installed Polytrack a pristine opportunity to evaluate needed changes after the season.

After the season?

After the season will be too late to satisfy some owners and trainers who have become reluctant to run their horses on the extremely slow, exceedingly tiring surface. It will be too late to know if the Pacific Classic winner was the fluke he seemed to be or if he would have been a significant upset threat on a normal or faster surface. And it will be too late for Bordonaro and all the other seemingly well meant stakes horses that were reduced to $5,000 claimers on Sunday and many other Del Mar afternoons.

Make no mistake, I am personally in favor of Polytrack for the same reasons expressed by the majority of trainers seeking ways to improve safety for horses and jockeys. But Del Mar's decision to refrain from putting measured amounts of moisture into this surface has turned their richest and most important stakes into meaningless exercises.

Across the continent and a day earlier, the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga produced a thrilling three-way stretch battle and a near disqualification of the winner, Lady Joanne, who proved once again that trainer Carl Nafzger is one of the best in the business at getting a top horse dead fit for a major target.

Where Lady Joanne had previously lost the Mother Goose Stakes (G1) on June 30 by less than a length to Octave, Nafzger's program to get her past that rival in the Alabama included an expertly conceived prep race over the Saratoga racing surface, sandwiched around well-designed workouts that pushed her to a new level of performance in the Alabama.

Racing three wide under a confident Calvin Borel through most of the 1 1/4-mile Alabama, Lady Joanne was able to keep Octave pinned inside and in tight quarters while also holding Lear's Princess safe to the wire, bumping that rival approaching the finish line.

After a long examination of the stretch run by the Saratoga stewards, the result was allowed to stand for one reason and one reason only: Lady Joanne was clearly best and Octave didn't look as if she was going to beat Lear's Princess for second.

While many are convinced that the absent Rags to Riches would have won this race in a walk, I believe that Lady Joanne has improved sufficiently to be a dangerous upset threat if and when Rags to Riches shows up without her 'A game' when they meet down the road.

Back at Del Mar, in a Sunday stakes that was run on the turf course, we did see the New Zealand import Crossing the Line overpower a seemingly well-matched field to win the $400,000 Del Mar Handicap (G2). The performance unmistakably stamped this lightly raced 5-year-old as a major player in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Mile at Monmouth.

Street Sense and Hard Spun at Saratoga but in different races:

This weekend, Saratoga will present the Grade 1, $1 million Travers Stakes for the 138th time and Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense can be expected to be a prohibitive odds-on favorite against a field of less accomplished 3-year-olds who may be helped by a possible off track.

The projected competition includes stretch running Sightseeing plus potential front runner C.P. West and a pair of rapidly developing allowance winners over the track - Loose Leaf and Grasshopper, both of whom are getting a shot in this rich race because of the absence of Preakness winner Curlin, Belmont winner Rags to Riches and Haskell Stakes winner Any Given Saturday.

On the Travers Day card, however, the most competitive race may be the King's Bishop, a Grade 1 sprint for 3-year-olds at 7 furlongs that has attracted a deep field of proven sprinters and the familiar Hard Spun, who was second to Street Sense in the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby and third in the 1 3/16-mile Preakness. When last seen, Hard Spun was running second to Any Given Saturday in the nine-furlong Haskell Invitational at Monmouth three weeks ago. The turn back in distance seems in order and will add a level of intrigue to one of the best sprint races of the summer.

Steve Davidowitz has written two highly acclaimed books on Thoroughbred racing---Betting Thoroughbreds and The Best and Worst of Thoroughbred Racing. He also is a regular contributor to Daily Racing Form's Simulcast Weekly and DRF Plus and his columns appear in the Bodog Racebook each week.