The circumference of the inner turf course is 7 furlongs. The turns on this course are sharper than the outer turf course and a little tougher to negotiate for the jockey and horse. For this reason, the Daily Racing Form displays a different symbol for races run on Outer vs. Inner turf courses.
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Inner turf courses are similar to short-track Go Kart courses or speed skating tracks. Clever jockeys and agile colts can gain an advantage by timing their turns properly and by gaining the inside position. There are 3 main types of synthetic track surfaces: polytrack, tapeta footings, and cushion track.
The legendary Saratoga racetrack has an inner turf course as well as an outer one. Inner turf courses are similar to short-track Go Kart courses or speed skating tracks.
Belmont runs two meets a year: the spring/summer meet is highlighted by the Belmont Stakes, while the fall meet features a number of the sport’s most prestigious races that once served as championship deciders prior to the advent of the Breeders’ Cup. Belmont Park was the host site for the Breeders’ Cup in 1990, 1995, 2001, and 2005.
Belmont Park can hold 90,000 people and has a seating capacity of 32,941. Home to the elegant Garden Terrace Restaurant, a luxurious five-star restaurant with a seating size of 2,300, Belmont visitors can also treat themselves to some fine dining while taking in their favorite races.
Inner turf courses are similar to short-track Go Kart courses or speed skating tracks. Clever jockeys and agile colts can gain an advantage by timing their turns properly and by gaining the inside position.
The first row of text will tell you the horse's name and the second will tell you the owner's name. The third row indicates the color of the "silks" the horse will wear during the race. The final line is the name of the horse's jockey.
MCL - Maiden Claiming. Maiden claiming races are for horses that have never won a race and are eligible to be claimed.
Form runs from left to right, with the oldest races on the left and the most recent on the right.The numbers 1-9 indicate the position the horse finished in the race.The number 0 indicates that the horse finished outside the first 9.The symbol – separates racing seasons.More items...
slipped upL - left at start. O - horse ran out. P - pulled up. R - refused. S - slipped up.
The ability to understand and accurately assess class is one of the most important elements of good form analysis. If a horse does not have the necessary class (ability) to win the race, then other positive factors such as form, fitness, distance, weight, barrier, jockey etc.
P or PU – indicates the horse was pulled up by the jockey and did not complete the race. F – indicates the horse fell. R – indicates a horse refused. BD – indicates the horse was brought down by another runner.
3:1919:20How to Read Past Performances in Horse Racing Part 1 - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipThis is the class level or the name of the race. This is the distance. This is who is running inMoreThis is the class level or the name of the race. This is the distance. This is who is running in this race or who the race is for. This is the date. And that's the race.
Equibase® Speed Figure. The Equibase® Speed Figure tells you how fast a horse has been running in its past races with a single number. Its sophisticated algorithms are based on the horse's actual time in combination with other factors, such as the condition of the track.
H. half-brother, half-sister: Horses out of the same dam, but by different sires. Horses with the same sire and different dams are not considered half-siblings in Thoroughbred racing.
Form (horse racing)1-9The position the horse finished in a racePPulled up (reined in as horse may be too tired/injured, or horse may just stop running)FFellSSlipped UpRRefusal8 more rows
There are three types of tracks: Metropolitan, Provincial & Country. Metro races are usually better quality and offer more prize money than those on the Provincial tracks, with exception of the Provincial Cups which can be Listed or Group races.
The inner turf course is located directly inside of the Mellon Turf Course. As far as turf courses go, it is pretty straight-forward with no chutes or extensions like turf courses at some other race tracks.
The circumference of the outer turf course is 1 mile (8f). And, just like with the Main Dirt track, there are some distances that are impossible to run on the outer turf course because they would have to place the starting gate directly on the first turn. These distances range between 6f and 7.5f, which are common distances at many other racetracks.
The circumference of the inner turf course is 7 furlongs. The turns on this course are sharper than the outer turf course and a little tougher to negotiate for the jockey and horse. For this reason, the Daily Racing Form displays a different symbol for races run on Outer vs. Inner turf courses. Below is an excerpt from the Past Performances (PPs) of a horse that had run on both the inner and outer tracks at Saratoga in 2012.
As far as turf courses go, it is pretty straight-forward with no chutes or extensions like turf courses at some other race tracks. The following diagram highlights the Mellon Turf course (in light green) and includes the location of the starting gate (in a box) for each distance from 5f to 9.5f.
Belmont runs two meets a year: the spring/summer meet is highlighted by the Belmont Stakes, while the fall meet features a number of the sport’s most prestigious races that once served as championship deciders prior to the advent of the Breeders’ Cup.
The original Belmont track opened on May 4, 1905 but following two separate engineering surveys, Belmont’s grandstand/clubhouse were deemed unsafe and a new grandstand had to be built. In 1968 a new grandstand was built at the steep cost of $30.7 million, but considering it holds more racing fans than any other venue the price was right.
Belmont Park is also the home of the final leg of the Triple Crown each year: the Belmont Stakes. The $1,000,000 Belmont Stakes is the longest and most demanding leg of the Triple Crown series. And, as the third jewel in the Triple Crown, it can make or break a Triple Crown champion.
Secretariat’s 31-length victory at the 1973 Belmont Stakes still stands as the largest in the history of American Grade 1 stakes races. The win also set a world record (2:24 flat) not only for the winner of Belmont Stakes, but for the mile and a half (2.4 km) on dirt.
One of these was the Belmont Stakes which, like the track, was named in honor of the family of noted financier and sportsman August Belmont. Then as now, the Belmont was one of the most important events for three-year-olds in the country.
Belmont Park is often called one of the best-landscaped venues in American sports because of its stately backyard park (situated behind the grandstand) that includes a paddock where horses are saddled before each race.
Without a Triple Crown at stake, the size of the Belmont Day crowd can vary between 40,000 and 70,000, but remains the largest of the season.
A “turf” track is a natural grass track, not to be confused with artificial turf in other sports. Turf is the most popular flat track surface in Europe and is favored over the dirt surfaces preferred by American track owners.
Thoroughbreds on Dirt Tracks in America. Dirt tracks were the first common flat horse racing surfaces in western society. Dirt remains the most common type of track used in the United States. Dirt is more affordable than any artificial surface and even more affordable than maintaining grass.
Even breeding is affected by the importance of weather. Thoroughbreds whose bloodline includes racehorses who ran well in the mud are known as mudders. Steeplechase horses which have shown to be careless or timid in the rain are not put out to stud as enthusiastically as sires who can handle all conditions.
The advantage of a turf track is that the horses slide and slip less often and are generally healthier after races as a result. Another advantage is that clods and dust are not being thrown in a horse or jockey’s face from the thundering hooves, as they almost always are on a dry dirt track.
The best way to keep a racing animal safe is to make sure he or she is prepared for the challenge every track presents. The best way will be to limit the variety of surfaces a horse is allowed to run on. Thoroughbreds are finicky beasts.
Race times tend to be longer, as the grass will subtly grab and impede the stride of a Thoroughbred. American turf tracks are notorious for being almost unmanageable in the rain, however, and hard rain usually means a delay or cancellation of a sweepstakes.
Heavy – Heavy mud, the slowest possible racing conditions. Turf course conditions are easier to memorize. In order of dry to very wet, the conditions of a steeplechase or flat turf track may be referred to as firm, good, soft, yielding, or heavy.
The actual size of the race track varies widely from small courses (also called “bull rings”) of 5/8 of a mile (like Timonium andFairplex) to gigantic Belmont Park (known as “Big Sandy”) that is a mile and a half oval. The effect on racing is significant, thewidth and size of the course many times dictates the running style of the horses. You will see comment about horses that have yetto “make it around two turns”. At Belmont, the minimum distance to make a race two turns is a mile and a half!
The Stewards may declare a race “no contest” due to mechanical failure (the gate did not open or could not be moved), or inter-ference (such as a loose horse) during the running of the race which affects the majority of the horses in that race.
Although there are four primary work designations (Breezing, Driving, Easily, Handily) only two are really used - Breezing andHandily. In 40 years I think I have seen “Easily” a dozen times, and “Driving” twice. So what do the designations really mean?Not much actually, they are subjective and different tracks seem to use one or the other predominantly, for example in SouthernCalifornia 95% of all works are listed as “Handily”, where back east the majority of works are listed as “Breezing”. The lower caseadditional data symbols are used in combination with the designator, so when you see an “Hg” it was a gate work that was desig-nated “Handily”. A turf work is designated by the standard turf symbol (a “T” in a circle) for turf works.
When a runner’s name is italicized, theywon next time out. When the name is in bold, that particular runner is entered into the current race.
Racing Post Ratings are a handicap rating determined by a horse's overall performance in a given race with respect to the race level,field quality, weight carried and time of the race. (Note: these are not directly comparable to speed ratings, which use differentmethodology).
These are races where the entrants are avail-able to be purchased or “claimed”. The buyer must put in their claim BEFORE the race. The previous owner gets any purse moneywon. The new owner gets the horse for the claiming price - even if the horse is injured or dies. This is also known as “running fora tag”. Here is the standard line in the Past Performance for a claiming race:
The Stewards can cancel any and all races on a card due to weather, unsafe conditions, equipment malfunction or if the start of therace would be after a certain time (in California it is midnight).