A Stiff track

[the welsh wizard]

I suggest arriving at the races two hours before the first race and strolling around the course – you will soon find out which courses are stiff and which are easy.

mikeh – your figures are interesting. Fakenham is one the easiest courses in the country, so if they come out slowest, I surmise that they are racing over distances which are inaccurately measured.

[mikeh]

I suggest arriving at the races two hours before the first race and strolling around the course – you will soon find out which courses are stiff and which are easy.

mikeh – your figures are interesting. Fakenham is one the easiest courses in the country, so if they come out slowest, I surmise that they are racing over distances which are inaccurately measured.

I wanted to find a method of equating the different course characteristics and incorporating the result into a horses ability to run at a certain secs/furl figure. You say Fakenham is an easy course, how do you define ‘easy’, as a speed figure?, cannot be, as the median times at Fakenham are slow compared them to Hereford one of the quickest tracks in the country.

I suppose we should return to the original questio ‘How do you define Stiff?’
and can it be defined in quatative terms?

I’d never get pass the cider works walking around Hereford, one of my favourite tracks.

[robnorth]

The likely reason that times are slower at Fakenham is because there are so many turns, and horses have to slow down going into turns. Basic directions for Fakenham hurdle races are jump a hurdle then turn left, repeating a number of times according to distance!

Horses can’t get up to full speed at Fakenham hence it takes less effort, or stamina, and is easier on the energy levels expended.

Rob

[Prufrock]

It should be remembered that distances at jumps courses are returned to an accuracy of 110 yards. That is a huge margin of error for any sec/furlong figures and rules out (to any sensible person) estimating times from distances also.

[graysonscolumn]

Quite. If memory serves, 2m1f chases at Kelso were previously given to be run over 2m196yds, 3m3f hurdles at Sedgefield as 3m3f160yds, 2m110yds hurdles at Doncaster as 2m150yds, and so it went on. I’d agree with Prufrock that the rounding up or down of distances to half a furlong still probably hides a multitude of sins proper distance-wise even now.

gc

Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.

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