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Could this year's roses be grown from synthetic soil?

posted by Jill Byrne on January 02, 2008 Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hello, I’m Jill Byrne and I’ll be a regular blogger and video presence here on KentuckyDerby.com. I was born into a racing family and served as an exercise rider and assistant to my Eclipse Award winning father, trainer Peter Howe.

While studying political science at the University of Virginia I used every vacation as an opportunity to return to the racetrack and met my future husband, trainer Patrick Byrne, while working for Hall of Fame trainer Scotty Schulhofer. Successes together include the 1997 Eclipse Award–winning campaigns of Favorite Trick (Horse of the Year) and Countess Diana (Two-Year-Old Champion Filly) as well as the 1998 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, Awesome Again.

I’ve covered the Kentucky Derby extensively on the website and through various other media outlets for the past several years and am excited to be back blogging after the initial experience last year.

It looks to be an exciting year yet again, and a big question this year will be how the synthetic surfaces come into play as we move forward on the Derby Trail. Street Sense and Hard Spun, the top 2 finishers in last year's Kentucky Derby, had their final prep races on synthetic tracks at Keeneland and Turfway Park respectively. However, they were both proven over traditional dirt tracks prior to that.

California seems to be loaded once again with a strong group of Kentucky Derby prospects and most of them have raced strictly on synthetic surfaces. With all the major West Coast prep races being conducted over these various synthetic courses, could we see a top Derby contender possibly making his or her first start on a traditional dirt track on the first Saturday in May?

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patbateman

01/19/2008 2:02 pm

Jill, I think Tiago ran on dirt last year and it didn't really propel him to greatness in the Derby,and Nobiz Like Shobiz and others who didn't really show up on Derby day ran on dirt and had to find other excuses than the polymer tracks. I think the dirt brought the best of out the best horses on Derby day, regardless of what they raced on beforehand, and that this year the same thing will happen.

Last year it seems like all of the major polymer track influence came from polytrack and not cushion track, since Santa Anita was still running on dirt last season. I think Cushion track produces results more likely to correspond to dirt racing results than the Polytrack does. That race last year that Dominican won was truly bizarre as far as the pace scenario and did not look like a dirt race at all. I think horses from California, if they are good enough, will not be set back by Cushion Track and may be slightly fresher than those who run on conventional dirt. The best horse will win May 3.