It's a "synthetic" world we live in!

For the second straight year, the Breeder’s Cup Championship races that are contested on the main track will not be on the traditional dirt surface. Pro-Ride is the synthetic polytrack of choice at Santa Anita Park and whether we like it or not, this is what we face as handicappers. Last year, it was a whole new game trying to come up with horses that would excel on the surface. This year with the experience under our belt, it should be much easier. Fact is that horses either love the surface or hate it. If you have a horse that runs well on turf, usually this artificial surface will be no problem for him or her. It’s the horses who maintain a steady diet of natural dirt races that are in question. With the major prep races done for this year’s Breeder’s Cup, we’ll look back at where they were run and which of those tracks may favorite runners on November 6th and 7th.

A quick glance of the “Win and you’re In” Breeder’s Cup Challenge races have horses winning at these “polytrack” venues; Arlington Park , Del Mar, Turfway Park , Woodbine , Keeneland and Santa Anita Park . Of those horses winning these designated races; Gio Ponti could contest the Classic instead of the mile and a half Turf, Zensational could be the favorite in the Sprint, Richard’s Kid ran well for a second time on the surface and could be a square price in the Classic, distance loving; Nite Light looks toward the Marathon with a victory at Turfway Park , Ventura could race on either surface or in three different races, Looking at Lucky & Blind Luck lead the charge in both Juvenile races with victories at Santa Anita, Negligee & Noble’s Promise were longshot winners last weekend at Keeneland in their two Juvenile races. Fatal Bullet & Informed Decision both enjoy the polytrack surface and Zenyatta stretched her winning streak to 13 straight and may take on the boys in the Classic.

These horses above have shown that they can win on the surface that Santa Anita has for racing on thier main track. Consideration of these runners is high priority when it comes to handicapping the Breeder’s Cup races. The horses that will be in question are the ones that have never raced on a synthetic surface and especially those who will be a short price. Summer Bird and Quality Road who are both pointing to the Classic have never raced on anything but natural dirt. These two runners will also be a “short” price in the wagering. Taking a chance versus the proven synthetic runners is a risky proposition. The two year old horses that raced at Saratoga and Belmont have to be placed in the same category. These young horses that haven’t raced on polytrack shouldn’t be taken at a short price in any circumstance. There will be many horses cross-entered both in the turf races and on the main track. The European runners that excelled so well here last year, will lead the charge of cross-entered runners.

In the past, we as handicappers only needed to worry about dirt and turf races when we went over the races. Sometimes the weather and track conditions also came into play. Now, polytrack puts a new wrinkle into our handicapping. And for a second straight year, it’s on thoroughbred racing’s biggest day. The second time around should be much easier with the lessons learned from last year.