curious

· David McCarthy · If the remarkable Aljay pulls off the New Zealand Cup with 60kg at Riccarton this weekend he will be only the second horse to do so in the more than 100 years. The first one was not even meant to be in the race. Nightmarch,a beautiful dapple brown stallion bred in Canterbury and one of the best gallopers of his era, won the race easily with the same weight (9st 6lb),the maximum allowed in the race in 1930. He was only there for one reason. Phar Lap. Nightmarch had gone to Australia in 1929 and his owner ,astute Christchurch businessman, Alf Louisson, a new chum to Australian racing there fell under the spell of the legendary Melbourne punter, bookmaker and trainer, Eric Connolly. Stories had it-with substance-that Connolly made a big offer for Nightmarch,Alf accepted but then, thinking of family and sporting consequences back home wanted out of the deal.Connolly agreed if he could plan the stallion’s spring campaign in Sydney. Alf Louisson had bought Nightmarch as a promising two year old from a prominent southern racing family for $1600 and had multiplied the return. The two major events,and still popular today,were the 1600 Epsom Handicap and the 2600m Metropolitan Handicap.Nightmarch being a stayer was well backed in the latter but the former was considered a leadup race in which he had a big weight Connolly let everyone think that then plunged heavily on the Epsom which Nightmarch won,landing huge bets.He then finished a close second in the Metropolitan to a high class horse and carrying 62kg. Then it was to Melbourne where Nightmarch was overshadowed for a time by another Canterbury-bred, the immortal Phar Lap then a three year old.But Phar Lap pulled his veteran jockey out of the saddle in the Cup and the more tractable Nightmarch became the first New Zealand bred, owned,trained, and ridden winner of the Melbourne Cup. It had taken nearly 60 years. Both horses were by South Canterbury based stallion,Night Raid. The winning rider,Roy Reed,tragically taken before his time in a racefall,was followed in later years as Cup- winning rider by brother Ashley. In 1930 Nightmarch went back to Melbourne for the Cup but things had changed. Phar Lap was now all conquering,virtually unbeatable. But while he was unbackable in the Melbourne Cup Phar Lap’s trainer (sometime Kiwi Harry Telford) would not say whether he would also run in the Caulfield Cup,the new target for Nightmarch. A game of cat and mouse ensued,Louisson hanging on to run at Caulfield,Telford refusing to scratch. Telford won the tense standoff. The last boat to New Zealand to get back in time to the New Zealand Cup was due to go and Alf Louisson cried enough. On to the boat went Nightmarch.The ship was scarcely out of the heads when Phar Lap was scratched from the Caulfield Cup. Nightmarch won the New Zealand Cup in a cakewalk despite his huge weight.His trainer Alec McCaulay told the media afterward. “You saw how easily my horse beat those today.Well Phar Lap beat him just as easily in Melbourne.That’s how good he is.” In the 3600m AJC Plate that spring Phar Lap went to the front and on the way broke every Australian distance record from 1400 to 3600 one of the most phenomenal performances in the history of racing.Nightmarch was 10 lengths behind him. Nightmarch was one of the very best of his era,just unfortunate to run into perhaps the greatest of all eras. He stood Alf Louisson’s specially set up Ladbrooks Stud and was a successful stallion. When Mr Louisson passed and the stud was sold Nightmarch was buried on the property.The grave locality can still be seen. A noble horse.Nothing has come close in NZ Cup weight carrying performances since. Aljay will have to be really good to match it, PIC: Nightmarch from a painting for Notable New Zealand Thoroughbreds of which he was a certain selection

You better include the ones with side winkers on Pete and maybe also those going from half cup to full cup blinkers?

I know a bit about one of those. Could improve 2-3 lengths but it won't be because of the blinkers and might not be enough to win. I also note that in the Gns for example, Marsh has sidewinkers on his two. How much do I adjust my pricing for that? Half what I do for blinkers?

I don't think you can assess what effect they might have had after the race either. If the horse improved 5 lengths, how do you know that was due to the blinkers?

I think (hope) that they do the latter. What you say above is probably also true generally so far as the constraints go. To do it between races, as you noted at Addington, requires say 3 tractors with grooming equipment in order to get it done fast enough. Riccarton only has one tractor big enough to operate their one groundbreaker, as we saw when it broke down and they couldn't groom the track for training until the tractor part arrived. If they tried to it with that, everyone would have gone home before the next race.

Race 10 MAJESTIC HORSE FLOATS PREMIER 1800m EL VIENTO (L Riordan) - Reared in the gates as the start was effected dislodging the rider and escaping riderless with the field. L Riordan was attended to by St John personnel and found to be uninjured. Connections were advised that EL VIENTO must barrier trial to the satisfaction of a Stipendiary Steward prior to racing again.

Stipes report not out yet.

Took one to the jumpouts a few years back that was on a barrier warning. They let them go with the rider standing on the side of the gates. Stipe said to me afterwards that though it had done everything right, jumped well, gone straight and run on nicely, you'll have to do that again with a rider on all the way before you can line up in a race Bloody rider still expected to be paid too!

The starter lets the field go with one rider seemingly not even in the saddle? What will happen about that?

Pretty sure they do both there and in the UK on the synthetics. Certainly a full power-harrow etc. between meetings so every time 100 odd horses have been over it.

A break in training to allow the track surface to be re-worked.

Training to Resume at Woodbine Racetrack on Wednesday November 12, 2024 Toronto, ON – November 12, 2024 – Woodbine Entertainment announced today that training on the All-Weather Main Track will resume tomorrow morning, following a thorough review and extensive maintenance conducted over the last couple of days. In collaboration with consultants and suppliers of the Tapeta surface, Woodbine performed a series of maintenance procedures to improve the track’s condition and address any safety concerns. This included rototilling the entire surface to a depth of five inches, followed by a deep power harrow treatment, and finishing with the use of a gallop master to ensure an even and consistent surface. On Monday and Tuesday morning, horses were allowed to gallop on the All-Weather Main Track with no incidents and trainers provided positive feedback. The track will undergo additional maintenance today following this morning’s light training, and it is now prepared for breezing and timed workouts starting tomorrow. To enhance safety, a harrow break has been added to morning training sessions as an extra precaution. Woodbine has been in close communication with the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) throughout the process to keep them informed of the steps taken to address the safety concerns and improve the track’s condition. “The safety of our horses and riders is our highest priority and we have been working diligently over the last couple of days to ensure the track is in optimal condition for safe training and racing,” said Bill Ford, Executive Vice President of Racing. “We look forward to reopening the track for training tomorrow and for live racing on Thursday, November 14. We appreciate the patience of our horse racing community and the support of our Tapeta consultants, the HBPA, and the AGCO. We remain committed to maintaining one of the safest racing surfaces in North America.”

If by 'woke' you are referring to its meaning according to Websters - “aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice),” Then I hope that is exactly what we are teaching our youngsters to inform their decisions and opinions.

Should be about right at current evaporation rates by race time tomorrow?

Didn't really want to wade into this, but I certainly find that sort of shyte offensive, so that's two.

Integrated Racetrack Tester a One-Stop-Shop in Track Surface Measurements Monday, November 11, 2024 at 11:42 am | Back to: Top News Kaleb Dempsey | Dan Ross By Dan Ross In the week leading up to this year's Breeders' Cup, observers who remained trackside at the conclusion of morning training would have spotted a young man with a short bristly moustache lug an unusual looking contraption around the two ovals at the heart of Del Mar. If these trackside observers hung around long enough, they would have spotted this two-legged interloper stop to place down and trigger what appeared to be a miniature guillotine, twiddle with a few buttons, then either jump back into his golf cart or set off on foot for another sixteenth-of-a-mile sprint. On the Tuesday morning before the championships, the young man in question, Kaleb Dempsey, stopped mid-rounds to express satisfaction with his revolutionary-looking sidepiece. “It's been very consistent,” said Dempsey, laboratory manager of the Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory (RSTL), in a way that betrayed both relief and trepidation (more on this in a bit). “Overall, I've been very happy with it.” The darling of Dempsey's eye is the Integrated Racetrack Tester. It's not, in fact, a guillotine. But it does execute a vitally important function that seeks to drag the sometimes technologically backward-looking world of managing racetrack surfaces into something resembling modernity. At every sixteenth pole, Dempsey will stop and plonk the upright contraption onto the track surface. He will then let a one-kilogram mass fall a meter onto a small block that in turn will strike a one-centimeter probe-tip into the ground. Dempsey does this at five, 10 and 15 feet from the rail at every stop. The probe tip will measure the total depth penetrated. At the same time, the machine is equipped to simultaneously collect a range of other information, including moisture content, surface temperature, moisture salinity, GPS coordinates, and a timestamp of when the information was collected. This data is stored locally. “And then at the end of the data collection–I have a cellular modem embedded into this which is something we didn't have last time–we actually generate an automatic surface report in PDF form,” said Dempsey, who added that the tool will also send track superintendents a raw-data set for good measure. With all this information at their fingertips, superintendents can accurately gauge the consistency of the track surface–in other words cushion depth and moisture content and other useful data points–all around the track. All these measurements from this one single tool–a hitherto unheard of concept. Indeed, up until now most track managers have used the GoingStick on the turf, and a FieldScout TDR Meter to measure moisture content in both the turf and the dirt. And unlike the GoingStick, the Integrated Racetrack Tester doesn't depend upon who's using it. “I could let you pick it up and use it, and it would get the same measurement that I would have,” he said, adding that it provides a more qualitative measurement of the turf as compared to its more vintage counterpart. “In the U.S., we tend not to have a qualitative measurement of the turf. 'Oh yes, it's firm.' Or, 'oh yes, it's yielding.' In Australia and New Zealand, they don't do it qualitatively. They take a look at the average reading–that's how they read the turf. They have a scale of one to 11,” said Dempsey. Furthermore, the Integrated Racetrack Tester doesn't discriminate–it can be used on the turf, the dirt and synthetic surfaces. This means it has the potential to satisfy the daily surface monitoring and measurement requirements written into the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA)–requirements not currently being met uniformly across all U.S. racetracks. “We have a high number of tracks that are finally starting to provide their daily measurements thorough the maintenance quality system. That's a good thing–it's how we really pull this data together,” said Dempsey. “But the hardest step is to actually get people to take the daily measurements so we can have those links.” Among the readouts issued to the track crews is a graph showing a middle green zone sandwiched between yellow and then red cushions. The trick is to maintain a wavey line that more or less stays within the green zone, to reflect a consistent surface. “You want to see that every day,” said Dempsey, who then pulled up on his phone a graph showing a 12-day dataset for Aqueduct. “You can see, when they opened it up, they had to tune it up a little bit. But now it's a lot more consistent.” The toughest period for a track manager, he said, is the initial stages of a meet. “When you're coming out from being closed to open, it's always a little tricky–it takes a lot of work. It's not perfect the whole time. It takes time to even out.” What this tool does is confirm or refute the subjective impressions and suspicions that track crews make as they go about the process of ironing out these kinks in the track, tightening or loosening it up bit by bit in preparation for the advent of the first set of hooves. “You don't make big adjustments on a track,” Dempsey said. “You want to tweak it a little bit over time.” Tweaking over time is a succinct summary of how Dempsey has approached the designing, building and modification of the Integrated Racetrack Tester, developed using Jockey Club funding. Indeed, it was four years ago that Dempsey unveiled an earlier version of this tool–a big, lumbering cumbersome unit that, contrary to its size, proved as delicate as a Faberge Egg. It's taken a few years for Dempsey to reach the prime-time stage of the tool's launch. Pandemic-era restrictions held back his work somewhat, while earlier iterations of the machine proved ill-suited to life on the racetrack. “This is a pretty harsh environment. It's dusty, wet, the vibrations from the truck. The track crews–we've got some pretty heavy-handed people,” said Dempsey. “You test things at the lab and you think, 'Oh, that'll work great.' But nothing beats field testing.” An Achilles Heel of the current iteration, for example, was the guillotine contraption that catapults the probe into the soil. There are now seven of these machines currently in use. The New York Racing Association has one. So does Churchill Downs, Oaklawn Park, Colonial Downs, as well as tracks in New Zealand. It's expected to have several important corollary uses, including in better understanding the patterns underlying equine fatalities and injuries. Using two years of race-day data out of New Zealand which used the Longchamp penetrometer (on which the Integrated Racetrack Tester is based), researchers determined that horses had lower odds of injury on a slow track compared to other conditions–perhaps not exactly a landmark discovery by itself. But interestingly, the researchers pointed to the overall infrequency of fast race-day conditions, and observed, “it may be that the reduction in the number of races presented as fast tracks is a direct response by the industry to the perceived risk of racing on such surfaces.” Another corollary use, said Dempsey, could be for the tracks to share this detail-rich set of data with the punters. “I think there's real value in that. It all goes to transparency,” said Dempsey. “But at the same time, it's not uncommon for data to be misinterpreted. There's always a risk in sharing information like this.” The tool currently costs about $10,000. “I'm hoping by next summer to have a 20% reduction in price,” he said, adding how the GoingStick is of comparable price. Demspey assembles these units himself, in what sounds like the building of a large Meccano set. In a satisfying rebuke to the pathology of hoarding behind closed doors intellectual property beneficial to the public good, the designs to this machine are open source, accessible through the RSTL's website. “If you wanted to–if you had the skills to–you could make it yourself,” he said. “Our mission is just to make tracks safer.”

Yes. It's Canada on what the safety data suggests is possibly the safest racing surface in the world, but they don't play Russian roulette with human and equine lives there.

It's interesting that they immediately shut the track down for both training and racing immediately pending resolution of the problem. Here, upon evidence of high injury rates, they carry on regardless.

Monday Morning Weather: Fine Track: Soft 5 Moisture Meter: 41.9% Rail: True Rainfall: No Rain Last 24 Hours | No Rain Last 7 Days Irrigation: 12mm Saturday Night Weather and Track updated at 9.03am Monday 11 November

Woodbine Cancels Sunday Card As Precautionary Measure Sunday, November 10, 2024 at 11:50 am | Back to: Top News Woodbine all-weather surface | Michael Burns Woodbine Entertainment has cancelled the scheduled race card for Sunday, Nov. 10, as a precautionary measure to prioritize the safety and well-being of the horses and jockeys, the track said in a release early on Sunday morning. The decision was made after consulting with key industry partners, including the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA), the Jockeys' Guild, and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. This follows the cancellation of the final two races of Saturday's card due to safety concerns with the all-weather main track. Additionally, training on that surrface was suspended Sunday morning. Woodbine is currently performing track maintenance and closely reviewing conditions which includes meeting with its consultants. These efforts will continue throughout the day, with racing and training activities set to resume only when it is deemed safe to do so. “The safety of our horses and jockeys is always our highest priority,” said Bill Ford, executive vice president of racing at Woodbine.” In consultation with our industry partners, we have decided to take these precautionary steps to ensure that the track conditions meet the highest safety standards. Woodbine has long been recognized as one of the safest racetracks in North America, and we are committed to maintaining that reputation by thoroughly assessing and addressing any issues.” Woodbine will continue to provide updates as efforts progress and decisions regarding the resumption of training and racing are made.

Who thinks they don't work?

I think we did and fairplay to the track management team there for achieving that in tricky circumstances on a track that is not easy to manage. I hope they put a good dollop of water back on it last night for Wednesday.

Savaglee’s Guineas win came in a sizzling time of 1:33.86 – the third-fastest recorded in the race. It was beaten only by Xtravagant’s 1:33.59 in 2015 and Ugo Foscolo’s 1:33.81 a year later.

It's surprising to me that it wasn't upgraded to a good 4 after that.

And that with not much early pace. Sectionals will be interesting through the day. 55.3 for 1000 ain't too slow either.