Taupo Soft 5

[SLB2.0]

2mm of rain in the last seven days, and yet it's a Soft 5.

You run your horses in the middle of summer because they tend to prefer good, or at the very worst, dead tracks.

With no rain forecast, why are they scared of the track becoming slippery? Or are good tracks gone forever? And, will they upgrade the track after the first race as usual.

 

[The Centaur]

The SOFT5 designation is a joke. For a start SOFT suggests getting close to HEAVY which it is not.

I've sampled 256 recent 1200m races that have SOFT 5 reading. The times vary from 1:07.3 at Riccarton to 1:14.7 at Taupo.

Taupo has varied from 1:12.63 to 1:14.75 (4 races)

The general racing public would prefer the term EASY or DEAD.  Get rid of SOFT5.

Whilst at it we need a very heavy designation suited to NZ racing.

[The Centaur]

They ran 1:27.03 for 1400m Mdn after announcer stating pace was keen. They have declared Good4 yet going on previous results they were running 1:27 for Soft6

Clearly a lot of water has been put on the track but I don't think anyone would complain about that. What is worth complaining about is getting an accurate track reading.

[The Centaur]

H'mm... maybe I'm wrong the extra watering may lead to cancellation after the fall.

[Chief Stipe]

On 25/02/2025 at 1:43 PM, The Centaur said:

I've sampled 256 recent 1200m races that have SOFT 5 reading. The times vary from 1:07.3 at Riccarton to 1:14.7 at Taupo.

Riccarton tell fibs as do Trentham.

[SLB2.0]

Riccarton and Trentham's times have never been accurate.

One thing I do know: if I'm training a horse in NZ, I'm telling the jockey to settle on the speed. Almost impossible to win off the speed at some of our tracks. Works for Waterhouse in Aus.