Quote:
Originally Posted by shoeless
FTL
Sorry for all the questions
When looking at a 7 furlong race how do you determine
making a horse a contender with distance pace lines
Jeff
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Shoeless,
I’m not exactly sure what your question is, so I’ll just “wing it”.
A 7 furlong race can be a pain in the butt. A 7 furlong race is a sprint race. The standard has always been to use races within 1/8th of a mile of today’s race. However, that would make 1 mile races eligible, but 1 mile races are route races and I never use route races in a sprint. The opposite is also true. I never use sprints in a route. I don’t like this particular conversation because there is so much to say on either side of the discussion. I’ll make it as simple as possible and say again, I never use route races in a sprint!
Turn time, what is it? It’s suppose to represent the time it takes for a horse to negotiate a turn. In all of racing there is ONLY ONE DISTANCE where time is actually measured on a turn. That distance is 5.5 furlongs. In all other distances there may be “part” of a turn involved, but mostly it is on a straight away. The 7 furlong distance is one such distance. You should get yourself a track layout from a standard one mile oval and look at the different starting points for the various distances so you can get a visual look at what I’m saying. Let me back up for a minute. At 5.5 furlongs the horses start on the backstretch and run approximately ¼ of a mile before encountering a turn. Then they run around the turn which is approximately ¼ of a mile, before entering the stretch where they will run the rest of the race. Back to 7 furlongs races. The horses start from a chute and run almost ½ a mile before entering a turn. That means the turn time in a 7 furlong race is basically run on a straight away. Want proof? Just enter lines from 5.5 furlong races and 6 furlong races. Then add in one line from a 7 furlong race. Keep in mind the lines you use should be from “+” or “(+)” races just like you normally would. Now, see which horse gets the best turn time. Also see which horse gets the worst turn time. Do this over and over again until you get an understanding of what is happening.
There have been times when I have used 5.5 furlong lines in a 7 furlong race. There have also been times when I have used 7 furlong lines in a 5.5 furlong race. I don’t like it, but I have done it. Naturally, when I do that there is more evaluation involved.
So, I don’t know if that answers your question or not, but I gave it a shot!