Fraser Downs Parimutuel

FRD is dark for the Rodeo. So have been watching our West Coast cousins at Cal-X Harness .

Cal_X ( Sacramento California, 1 mile harness track). 16 May 09.

Track dimensions are quite different, thus driving strategy and fractional times follow a different pattern.

FRD horses competing at Cal_X seem to be able to match top speed quarters , but lack endurance/ stamina. They appear to miss the usual, refreshing FRD Q2 breather. Also at FRD much of their energy was used to overcome centrifugal forces of the tight turns. At Cal_x horses don’t need to expend such  turn energy and are conditioned to maintain a more even, moderately faster pace through out the race, reserving a final effort for the long stretch.

The tracks’ geometries have very little in common.

FRD’s Q2 is usually slower and it’s Q3 is faster. Q3 is an all out effort to arrive within striking position before the the beginning of Q4 that starts with an acute turn that ends into a stretch that is only 620 feet form the wire .

At Cal_X Q2 is mostly the backstretch straight- away and therefore doesn’t slow much. Q3 is mostly a sweeping turn that accels some, but not dramatically. And it leads into a Q4 that ends with an almost 990 foot straightaway, with lots of room for change.

I Can’t conceive of any way to compare past performances between these two universes !

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Using the measurement tool in Google EARTH gave these approximate measurements.

The table above shows striking differences between a 3 turn,  5/8 track and a 2 turn, one mile track. FRD turns are especially sharp because the track was converted from a 4 turn, half mile track. The straight-aways were lengthened but turn redesign/enlargement was constrained.

Cal_x was born big and is a classic one miler. Multiply it’s turn radius by Pi ( 3.142) and you get !/4 mile. If turn radius at FRD was 210, the distance covered on the turn would be 1/8 mile , as you would expect on a 1/2 mile.

FRD’s is oriented  East-West. CalX’s is North-South.
I’ve arranged the images for convenience. The images below are not set to the exact scale.
The surface in Sacramento is “very organic, Man” (dirt) —  In Colverdale it’s mineral (crushed limestone).

See a very intersting article about race track dimensions with many references.

Please see this blog’s page titled how to measure track dimensions with Google Earth.

Left, FRD ……. Right Cal_X….. Not to exacta scale

Cal_X 16 MAY 09, fractional times & differences

more later    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~