What other information helps define our poly track horse racing system?
A key thing to consider when handicapping a race that is full of top notch horses that haven’t run on the poly surface along with those that have is to look at what surfaces they did normally run on. A horse that races largely or exclusively on the dirt is likely to struggle on the poly. The surface is so much different that dirt it really doesn’t translate well in terms of past vs. current and future performances. However, there is one surface that translates great, and that is the turf. When all the European horses dominated the 2008 Breeders Cup races the initial consensus was that the horses from overseas were better suited for the poly surface. With the 2009 Breeders Cup now complete I think we can all agree it was the fact that the Euro horses all race on turf as the key thing they had it common with success on the poly track. Gio Ponti is a great example of this from this past fall. That horse was a very impressive turf horse that had the Breeders Cup Classic race basically won
