Can somebody help me with answers to these questions?
On Derby day the track is very "glib" for the early races and then when we get to the Derby it's considered "slow" and "tiring". The weather didn't change, nobody was talking about noticeable wind,they have water trucks, harrowing etc. they use between races, so why can't they keep it constant?
Also everyone keeps talking about "moderate" early fractions; really? They ran the second and third quarters in 24, if they kept going in 24's you'd get a 159/1: that's not a "moderate" final. If they were so 'moderate", why couldn't these great horses run the next two quarters faster than 25/1 and 26/3? Also the first "moderate" fraction of the race ( 23/1) was run over the same part of the track in the same direction as the "tiring" fraction of 26/3? Was the track really "tiring" ( we all know dirt horses unlike turfers usually run the 1st 1/4 faster than the last , but 3+ seconds faster? If the fractions were so "moderate" Why did they come home so slow? OR, were the HORSES tired? That is, NOT SO GOOD? Let's say AP ran the 3/4 in 1:11/3, (so-called "moderate") , so he comes home last half in 51/2. Let's not consider Rags, which is ridiculous, but is that performance for THAT DISTANCE worthy of such a good fig from TG ( or, Beyer, or anyone at least 1/2 legit)? Are we talking about SPEED or EFFORT?
