TOPIC: Moonee Valley Track Tips

From owner-ausrace Mon Jun 17 16:54:38 1996 X-Sender: minnisj@ozemail.com.au (Unverified) To: ausrace@psy.uwa.edu.au
Subject: A Question of Bias

Form students when considering the form of horse running at Moonee Valley last Saturday (15 June) need to take into consideration the very lop-sided track bias AGAINST horses leading and/or running close to the rails in the straight. Quite frankly it was diabolical and the management of the 'Valley' are coming under increasing pressure re the new Strathayr track.

Ausracers need to take note that when the rail, in particular, is in the 'true' position, leaders and/or horses racing close to the rail are at a sizeable disadvantage. This trend has been evident for some time and Saturday's racing was confirmation that all is not well with the new Moonee Valley track.

>From my observations, I would rate that those horses running on or close to the rails where around about a half-second (3 lengths) slower than those racing on the 'better' part of the track, which makes the win of Boursier (in race 4) and the third placing of Pitcairn Edition (race 5) all the more creditable, with both defying the bias that bogged down nearly all other runners on the rails in the straight.

Despite assurances that the Strathayr track is improving, many leading racing personalities are stating the opposite. The A$6m sand based track has only been in operations 8 months, but trainers and jockeys have lashed out at the club'b rating of the track as officially 'good' on Saturday. Track manager, Fred Fox, defended the surface, saying it would take until the middle of next year to consolidate fully, but leading jockey Paddy Payne stated that the track was 'shifting' more on Saturday than it had been some months ago, "I rode Dr Zackary and he didn't handle the shifting of the track, he was never happy in it and it didn't seem like a good track."

Other jockeys condemned the track reading, claiming the surface was nearer slow than good. One leading jockey, after weighing in, described the track as a "mess" after been bogged down on the rails. Another stated that the track had deteriorated alarmingly, while leading trainer Lee Freedman said he was in "fear and trepidation" of taking horse to Moonee Valley, adding "All Jockeys can't be wrong and they say the track isn't quite right."

Another leading jockey, Steven King, said that he was perplexed at the track rating, stating "it felt like slow going". Regards ... Edward J. (acknowledgement to the Melbourne Age for the quotes used in this posting) Back for more tips.