Is 7 furlongs a quirky distance?
 

I've noticed something about 7 furlong races: routers win
these races more often than they win races at the 5.5, 6
and 6.5 furlong distance.

Sprinters usually win sprint races and routers usually
win route races--usually. There are always exceptions.
But I've noticed that with 7 furlong races the numbers
seem to shift.

This is probably also true for 7.5 furlong races, but
that is such a rarely run distance anymore that it hardly
comes up.

Anybody else notice this?

This creates a small problem matching up. If routers are
winning an abnormally high percentage of these races,
then when you pick a route pace line for the horse it
won't appear to match up because of the slower route
fractional times.

What to do?

Can't help with matching them, but at Remington Park in the early 90's, 7f was definitely a quirky distance. Front runners rarely won, and it was a specialty distance for some horses and even some trainers.

They ran a lot of them, out of a deep chute set so far back in the trees, so you couldn't see the start. Some said the deep chute was the reason for the demise of front runners, as the dirt was never packed down, so getting away quick cost them a lot, especially in a longer race.

Dick

Hi Steve. The 7 furlong distance seems to be the worst distance for me to hcp. I really don't know how or what to do. If I like a sprinter a router wins and if I like a router a sprinter wins. I hate these 7 furlong races.


emilio

I am more likely to take a router at 7 furlongs than one coming from 6 furlongs.