curious

Indeed. Where do you find those reports? Interesting info similar to the harness ones.

Probably too soon to say. Railway met the pattern race minimum but the Telegraph is well shy and on alert for downgrade. I doubt that betting would generally be enhanced by a shift to wfa which is designed to favour the best horses rather than create competitive races for wagering. The purpose is to enhance quality which it may do on average but won't likely make the best horses any better.

Yes. But that's what non-handicap racing, set weight and wfa are there for, to determine the best horses for breeding purposes which is why they are graded and featured in sales catalogues.

The handicapping bias is clearly in favour of the better horses, not the lesser ones. That needs to be corrected before you have competitive fields in handicap races that are attractive events for punters.

Well it's not obvious to me. Perhaps someone would enlighten us as to how many horses are actually working on these tracks on the average morning, especially during winter.

I thought there were heaps of horses going round on them every day. 100s at Cambridge.

There are no meetings scheduled for Ellerslie after 25 May through the end of the season. I think there is a fair question whether the Strathayr can provide suitable footing at that time of year in our climate anyway but we'll never know if they don't race on it.

They are being used all year aren't they and in the winter for racing? I agree that 30mill could have been better directed in light of the existing track infrastructure but I still think they are a plus to what we had. We now have another semi-synthetic at Ellerslie that won't be used in winter, possibly can't be in the NZ climate.

Makes sense to me. Certainly removes any subjectivity.

That should be a good start for the listed status of the Timaru Cup to be reconsidered by the Pattern Committee.

And inform punters. Not sure that a comparison with turf would be relevant but maybe. There's no comparison with the information provided elsewhere. This from Canberra when they opened their poly last year: As well as a Racing and Sports-produced synthetic form pointers preview, other key pieces of data will be made available on race morning for all Acton Track meetings. The following pieces of key data will be readily available to help better inform interested parties. • Clegg Hammer reading – the Clegg Hammer is a tool used to determine shock absorption. The higher the Clegg Hammer reading, the firmer the surface. An average reading will be published. • Moisture reading (%) – this is the moisture content of the track surface material. An average % will be published. • Track temperature – this is the temperature of the track surface material. An average temperature will be published. For reference, the readings obtained prior to the official barrier trial conducted on Friday 19th May 2023 are below; • Clegg Hammer: 8.71 • Moisture: 18.9% • Track temperature: 20°C Track data will be released through the Canberra Racing Club’s Twitter account (@ThoroughbredPK) on all Acton Track race days from Friday, 23 June.

That's a good point. I don't see why they can't supply a penetrometer reading?

Hmmm..Coolmore and Dave seem to be very cosy and the former have a long history of "supporting" buyers/agents to pay big money to spruik their their stock. Who was the underbidder?

Jamie Kah has been booked to partner Packing Treadmill in the Group One Centenary Sprint Cup (1,200m) later this month by Sam Agars on Thursday, January 11, 2024 9:24 AM Francis Lui Kin-wai has booked star Australian jockey Jamie Kah to partner improving speedster Packing Treadmill in the Group One Centenary Sprint Cup (1,200m) later this month. Kah will return to Sha Tin almost a year to the day since she snared the Classic Mile aboard Voyage Bubble for Ricky Yiu Poon-fai. “The owner [Edmond Lee Man-bun] suggested Jamie and she will ride him on January 28,” Lui said. After a strong showing in the Group Three Bauhinia Sprint Trophy (1,000m) on the weekend, Packing Treadmill is set to lock horns with the brilliant Lucky Sweynesse.

It's supposed to have an aggregate layer below the asphalt. That's what contains the drainage system. Pretty sure that's what they did at Riccarton. 200mms of the sand/fibre/rubber mix on top.

Isn't that exactly part of the problem with their potential acceptance? Turf track breeders and stallions don't want them, so knock them or don't support them? That's what happened in the US but the trend is turning there due to the safety factors among other things with Belmont installing one this year and Churchill Downs considering it. Woodbine renewing theirs. recently with great success etc.

That is the average from a combination of all synthetic surfaces in the US. It is based only on fatal injuries that occur during or within 72 hours of a race. It does not include, for example, non-fatal shear injuries which are mooted to be greater on synthetics, though after many years I'm unaware of any solid evidence of that. Nevertheless, the fatal injury data remains compelling.

And the recent data from the US makes safety and injury hard to argue on average, though clearly specific individual tracks may have issues. In the Jockey Club Equine Injury Database (EID) for the year 2022, injuries on dirt were 1.44 per 1,000 horse starts. Turf injuries were 0.99 per 1,000. Injuries on synthetic were vastly diminished with 0.41 per 1000. This data shows that synthetic surfaces are 3.5 times safer than dirt and 2.2 times safer than turf.28 Aug 2023

Your source may have an argument Jim despite the manufacturer claims. It was reported a few years back that Pakenham had to add irrigation to the management mix for theirs a few years back to reduce the kickback to an acceptable level. Hodge confident Pakenham issues sorted 28 June 2017 by By Brent Zerafa - racing.com Pakenham Racing Club chief executive Michael Hodge is confident the issues that led to the poor performance of the PolyTrack surface at Racing.com Park last Sunday have been rectified following a set of jumpouts at the venue on Wednesday. Hodge was quick to put his hand up and accept that the track didn't race to required standard, with several leading trainers and jockeys voicing their concerns at the significant amount of kick-back that was being thrown up. "There has been a lot of work done to rectify the performance from Sunday and what has been really pleasing from this morning is the industry feedback that I've been getting from jockeys and trainers, in particular jockeys who rode on this surface on Sunday, they've been particularly complimentary, suggesting that there has been a significant turnaround from Sunday," he said. "Today there is less kick-back and the track is performing in the manner which they are accustomed to. "There has been a reduction in the kick-back and the height of the kick-back too." Hodge said the Pakenham Racing Club maintenance team watered the track, which can be affected by dry weather. "There has been some change to maintenance techniques, there has been some irrigation added, it will be a combination of things," he said. "It is very subject to climatic conditions, as a consequence of that, it does only require some minor modifications and we can get things back on track and we now hope all goes well for our next meeting on Sunday week." David Brideoake raced horses at Racing.com Park on Sunday and was complimentary of the surface at the jumpouts on Wednesday morning.

I think that's partly a structural issue because you have regional programming committees programming only for their region. There should be a national pprogramming coordinator on those committees or similar.

Not according to the manufacturer Martin Collins: Its unique capability of providing consistent going, in even the most extreme temperature variations, makes it a winning choice for racetracks and training tracks all over the world. In fact, Polytrack is used at over 20 racetracks and on 300km of training tracks across the globe. Dust free No irrigation system needed Ready to use straight after installation Wax coated for cushioning Good energy return Adaptable going for different kinds of work Each Polytrack surface is bespoke and designed for the climate and level of use it’s to withstand. But every single mix is manufactured to the same specification, ensuring the material is consistent throughout, for a world-leading racing and training surface that supports optimum performance.

Stunning looking boy that one.

I thought you were claiming that it was a pre-requisite for some.

There have been a number of West Coast based trainers over the years.