track conditions

[chelseacol 2,488]

Heavy 10 at Ashburton - after one race drops to slow 8 

 

Who would be a trainer deciding if to start a horse who doesn't handle heavy... or a punter placing bets early......

[arjay 451]

yes that was piss poor

[Gruff 2,790]

Avondale yesterday they ran 1.12.4 in the first race maiden on a heavy 10 ?  Nothing unusual with the penetrometer though, use the first two races as a gauge then think about punting 

[Pam Robson 1,547]

18 hours ago, chelseacol said:

Heavy 10 at Ashburton - after one race drops to slow 8 

 

Who would be a trainer deciding if to start a horse who doesn't handle heavy... or a punter placing bets early......

Yes,  Col...a good few horses lost out on runs as a result of that misinformation.

However,  local knowledge should have told trainers that .  The soil and climate are very different from that prevailing at,  say,  Riccarton - or Dunedin.

It isn't hard to ring a local trainer and get an opinion - or go for a drive and have a look yourself.

Doesn't help early punters though.

[We're Doomed 4,855]

I was just about to start a thread saying what magnificent condition Ashburton was in last weekend when I noticed this discussion. I couldn't believe the scratchings on a track that ended up virtually easy at worst, with the open sprinters going 1.11 and the 3yos going 1.24. It is virtually impossible to get a start with a rating 65 in Canty and yet 10 of them scratched out of the 1,400m. I couldn't believe it. Most of them won't get a chance to race for $22,500 for many weeks now. Poor bloody owners.

I know it started out a heavy 10, but that track was always going to come back to a decent rating. It had been dead earlier in the week after watering  and with a fine day on the Saturday surely anyone could tell it would improve dramatically. I notice virtually all of the north island trainers started their horses. It was certainly better than any of the alternatives in the north.

I recall a Sydney track improving from Soft to good just recently, which any decent track should be able to do on a fine day. Just shows what a decent track Ashburton is. We aren't talking Trentham or Awapuni here.

[arjay 451]

4 hours ago, We're Doomed said:

I was just about to start a thread saying what magnificent condition Ashburton was in last weekend when I noticed this discussion. I couldn't believe the scratchings on a track that ended up virtually easy at worst, with the open sprinters going 1.11 and the 3yos going 1.24. It is virtually impossible to get a start with a rating 65 in Canty and yet 10 of them scratched out of the 1,400m. I couldn't believe it. Most of them won't get a chance to race for $22,500 for many weeks now. Poor bloody owners.

I know it started out a heavy 10, but that track was always going to come back to a decent rating. It had been dead earlier in the week after watering  and with a fine day on the Saturday surely anyone could tell it would improve dramatically. I notice virtually all of the north island trainers started their horses. It was certainly better than any of the alternatives in the north.

I recall a Sydney track improving from Soft to good just recently, which any decent track should be able to do on a fine day. Just shows what a decent track Ashburton is. We aren't talking Trentham or Awapuni here.

That track was never heavy at the start of the first race. A local trainer had galloped earlier am, did not really get into the track to much, this was reported on trackside prior to race 1.

[chelseacol 2,488]

44 minutes ago, arjay said:

That track was never heavy at the start of the first race. A local trainer had galloped earlier am, did not really get into the track to much, this was reported on trackside prior to race 1.

and that is the point - just feels like a cavalier approach to track conditions.

 

I think I heard Richard's father as stable rep mention they had scratched one later in the day based on original heavy ?

[We're Doomed 4,855]

1 minute ago, chelseacol said:

and that is the point - just feels like a cavalier approach to track conditions.

 

I think I heard Richard's father as stable rep mention they had scratched one later in the day based on original heavy ?

I wonder who did the track rating. They certainly were throwing up less dirt than you would get on most good or dead tracks in the north. Surely they could have spotted that earlier. It looked like a great track. Some of those who scratched must have felt a bit sick. Certainly a lesson to be learnt all round. I wonder if it got mentioned in the stipes report: I must look.

[We're Doomed 4,855]

Interesting. I see the track was upgraded to slow 8 retrospective to race one and to slow 7 retrospective to race 7, so the TAB results for both of those races are wrong. So officially they never actually raced on a heavy track.

[We're Doomed 4,855]

I see they went 1.13 in the first at Oamaru today. Not bad for a heavy track. I imagine Trentham will be something like 1.19 this Saturday.