By Joe Takach of the DAILY SCHTW

1—WTW (wire-to-wire)—includes the pacesetter and dueling horses

                   within ½ length of each other at the 2^nd running call.

2—S/P (stalker/presser)—any winner that was from ¾ to 2½ lengths

              behind the leader at the 2^nd running call.

3—M (middie)—Any winner that was 2¾ to 6 lengths behind the leader at   

            the 2^nd running call.

4—C (closer)—Any winner that was over 6 lengths behind the leader at

           the 2^nd running call.

At 5 ½ furlongs, wire to wire types have dominated over this new Del Mar polysurface winning 15 of 26 races (57.69%).

The stalker/presser types have won 7 of 26 (26.92%).

The mid-pack runners or “middies” have won 4 of 26 (15.38%).

The closing runners have failed to win any 5 ½ furlong polysprints from 26 attempts.

At 6 furlongs, we find that the preferred running style is the stalker/presser.

The wire to wire runners did well winning 17 of 55 races (30.91%).

The stalker/pressers did better winning 26 of 55 races (47.27%).

The “middies” won 10 of 55 (18.18%).

The closers won only 1 of 55 (1.82%).

Moving to 6 ½ furlongs, we see that the percentages vary little.

The wire to wire types won 13 of 28 races (46.43%).

Stalker/pressers won 12 of 28 races (42.86%)

The middies won 3 of 28 (10.71%) races.

The closers failed to win any races from 28 starts.

At 7 furlongs we had only 9 races conducted during the first 24 days of racing,

The wire to wire runners went 1 for 9 (11.11%).

The stalker/pressers won 1 of 9 (11.11%).

Middies have dominated this 7 furlong distance winning 7 of 9 (77.78%)

The closers “blanked” when going 0 for 9.

Moving over to our 3 route distances of 8, 8 ½, and 9 furlongs we see the following:

At 8 furlongs, the wire to wire runners went 8 for 26 (30.77%).

The stalker/pressers won 9 of 26 (34.62%).

The middies won 8 of 26 (30.77%).

Closers only won 1 of 26 (3.85%).

At 8 ½ furlongs, the wire to wire runners went 4 for 13 (30.77%).

The stalker/pressers won 4 of 13 (30.77%).

The middies won 2 of 13 (15.38%).

Closers won 3 of 13 (23.08%).

We’ve only had 1 race going 9 furlongs and that was won by a stalker/presser.

The running bias for both sprint and route polyraces at Del Mar shows the following with 158 polyraces in the books thru the first 24 days of racing.

Inside runners (1-2 paths) have won only 8 of 158 races (5.06%).  

Middle of the track runners (3 to 5 paths) have won 96 of 158 races (60.76%)

Outside runners (6 path outwards) have won 54 of 158 races (34.18%).

It is painfully obvious that the middle and outside of this new Del Mar synthetic surface are the only places to be!

Very few handicappers take the time to do their homework on track biases and track running profiles.

If you’d like to pattern your personal research to get a leg up on other handicappers, the most comprehensive report on polysurfaces can be found on the DAILY SCHTW website at http://www.joe-takach.com.

The DAILY SCHTW WEEKLY POLYTRACK REPORT is the “polysurface bible” of the industry today.  It contains the tons of “proprietary information” that simply can’t be found at the Daily Racing Form, BrisNet, Today’s Racing Digest or any other publication.

Information such as:

·        Track specific win percentages for each sire, grandsire and damsire on the polysurface by specific distance.

·        Turf-to-polysurface win percentage by track and trainer.

·        % of winners that have a prior workout, or raced over the polysurface prior to the win.

·        Winning trainer/jockey combos, broken down into Maiden Special Weight, Maiden Claimers, 2 year olds, Claiming races, Starter Allowances, Allowances, and Stakes.

·        Running Profiles at every running distance.

·        Running Bias for every polywinner at every distance.

·        3 year olds vs. older.

·        Winning horses that dropped in class.

We’ve even seen some trends continue from the recently concluded Hollywood Park meet into the first 3weeks of the Del Mar meet such as trainer Bruce Headley, who went winless at both Hollywood Park polymeets, is currently 0-for-Del Mar meet through the first 18 days of racing.

Deciphering horses’ form from their Hollywood Park efforts and translating them into future Del Mar performances is a very tough chore.  Pay close attention to the polytrack surface biases at Del Mar each and every day.

If you catch onto a prevalent theme, you can be first in line to cash your winning tickets!

One final thing stands out like a sore thumb when discussing the new Del Mar synthetic surface.

It is unbelievably slow compared to Hollywood’s fast polysurface with the “operative” word being “unbelievably”!