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Re: [RC] TB Racing, Soundness, Speed, Hooves - Truman Prevatt

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:


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“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


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Re: [RC] TB Racing, Soundness, Speed, Hooves, rides2far@xxxxxxxx