Cushion Track Praise
“It will add some consistency that the two Los Angeles tracks have the same surface,” trainer John Sadler said. “Guys can train where they want to train. I think it’s a positive step.” … “I think most people are happy with the decision,” said Ed Halpern, executive director of the California Thoroughbred Trainers. “It’s better for the handicappers. Hopefully, with the surface, we’ll see an increase in the horse population over time.” (DRF)
It will be nice to have a somewhat consistent surface in SoCal, especially one that seems to play as fair as Hollywood’s Cushion Track, which hasn’t attracted the same sort of hand-wringing as Keeneland’s Polytrack surface.
Here’s what I like about synthetic surfaces, in addition to their apparent increased safety: Polytrack and Cushion Track let the true pace of a race play out. Horses with early speed, capable of outrunning rivals in every quarter, continue to win, just as they do on dirt tracks. But horses with early speed and no late kick or additional gears aren’t buoyed along in the stretch as they can be on a speed favoring dirt track (see: Pimlico, 5/19). The stalkers and closers can run their races. As a friend emailed the other day, “the advent of artificial tracks is going to make pace handicapping more relevant than ever.” It also makes class a significant factor again. After more than 25 years of speed dominance, that makes for some welcome changes in the handicapping game.
