Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

But there are probably 10 times as many horses on the dirt as on the 
turf. But I suspect the surface is a big factor. My farrier used to race 
Standardbreds. Today there is a much bigger problem with standardbred 
breakdown than in the past because the tracks are much harder. John 
Henry had problems with dirt when he started so they took him to turf 
for a couple of years and after that he had no trouble with anything.

So I suspect hard dirt tracks are a big issue. What I've read on the new 
surfaces is it will provide a more consistent surface that has more give 
and spring hence make it easier on the horse's legs. As far as turns, 
there are a lot of different shaped tracks around, Belmont has large 
sweeping turns while Pimlico has pretty sharp turns. It would be 
interesting to correlate breakdowns with the curvature of the turns.

Truman

rides2far@xxxxxxxx wrote:
> > > > One interesting study would be to look at the breakdown rate 
> > > >         
> increases of turf horses vs. dirt horses. 
>
> The NPR story pointed out that all 17 breakdowns at Arlington were on 
> the dirt. Zero on turf.Also, seems like they said the breakdowns were 
> occurring on the turns.  I was looking at the Keeneland site last 
> night to see when their fall meet is and noticed they're announcing 
> they've installed a new surface called "Polytrack". 
>
> http://www.keeneland.com/news/mediakits/trackrenov/
>
> Here's what they say:
>   


--

“With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things 
and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil 
things, that takes religion.” Steven Weinberg – Nobel Laureate, Physics


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=