In the prior post we looked at the two turf courses at Saratoga. Now we’ll look at a few other interesting turf courses in North America. Below is a diagram of the Widener (Outer) turf course at Belmont Park.
Saratoga is a Race Track that has two turf courses located inside of the Main Dirt track. The outer turf course is officially known as the Mellon Turf Course, in honor of the Mellon family (whose members were prominent owners and breeders in the Thoroughbred industry). 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 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.
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In a prior article we looked primarily at the Saratoga and Belmont main tracks. Click here to read the article From Furlongs to Ovals (How Distances Vary by Racetrack). Now we’ll look at a few other tracks in North America, and show a comparison chart of the oval size and stretch run distances for the most popular tracks.
First there is Aqueduct, located in New York State.
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In an earlier article (What’s a Furlong?) we defined the standard measure of distance in Horse Racing as a furlong. But, how does that furlong translate into races on an actual race track? The first thing you have to realize is that it varies by race track. While the vast majority of race tracks in North America are oval in shape, they are not all the same size, nor the same configuration. It’s kind of like the difference in Major League Baseball parks. Some have a short fence, while others have a big green wall. The number of feet to left, center, and right fields vary. Some ballparks have grass, while others have artificial turf. Many similar variations occur in horse racing.
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This past weekend I participated in the annual Xpressbet Showdown tournament. I’ve been a horseplayer for 35 years, but only recently have I begun dabbling in tournaments. And, what a wild ride it turned out to be.
I will be participating in a 2-day tournament this weekend. The format is to make a Win bet on a total of 20 races over two days. Prize money is then paid out based on total earnings accumulated from the wagers. So today I’ll be doing some handicapping and Saturday and Sunday … it’s fun time. So there won’t be any posts until early next week, when I’ll be sharing some of my tournament experience.
Webster’s Definition of Handicap:
To assess the relative winning chances (of contestants) or the likely winner (of a contest).
Simple enough. But, as with so many things, the devil is in the details. In his book, Ainslie’s Complete Guide to Thoroughbred Horse Racing, Tom Ainsle writes the following about handicapping horse races:
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Continuing with the example from the prior post: Win, Place, Show (Part 1), let’s change the order of finish slightly by switching the top two horses #8 and #2.
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WIN (W) bets require that a horse finishes in 1st place.
PLACE (P) bets require that a horse finishes in 1st or 2nd place.
SHOW (S) bets require that a horse finishes in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place.
I’m going to use the diagram (of the finish of a race) below to answer some common questions on the Win, Place, Show bets. The Tote-Board Win odds are above each horse in parenthesis.
Photo by Alicia Hamm
Pound-for-pound, arguably the best athlete in all of sports. He has to balance his weight on his toes, that are pressed tightly into a thin metal stirrup, while guiding an animal weighing more than 1,000 pounds around a race track, at nearly 40 miles per hour.
During the course of a race, only the insides of his feet and ankles are in constant contact with the horse. He is effectively floating in midair, while holding a rein that acts as his steering wheel. But, unlike a steering wheel, it’s not attached to a chassis.
If the horse stumbles, or the jockey starts to lose his balance, there is nothing firm for the jockey to hold onto. A racehorse’s neck tends to be slippery, and in perpetual motion. And if he falls, his life can change in an instant.