As we constantly see the term ‘Standard’ being broadcast by Clerks
of the Course for All Weather tracks you can be forgiven for assuming that the
deviations in the going must be minimal. I can assure that this is far from the
case.
As I had alluded to in yesterday’s post ‘Racking
up top rated winners at Dundalk’ regarding
my concerns on how the going at Southwells meeting may be detrimental to our selections,
rain on this surface has the opposite affect to what you might suppose.
Although the surfaces are commonly referred to as ‘sand’ giving
the expectation that wet sand will ride quicker than dry, this has never been
the case at Southwell. Whereas the Polytrack surfaces at Lingfield Park and
Kempton Park ride marginally quicker when wet, the Fibresand surface at
Southwell follows the same attributes as turf in becoming slower when wet.
This often manifests itself in horses stopping like theyhave been shot in the final stages of races. Our selection Captain Dunne in
Southwell’s 3:50 being a classic example.
In hindsight, looking at the more surprising winners Reach
The Beach 25-1 and Best Tamayuz 25-1, it is not so surprising to see their best
form coming on Soft \ Good to Soft ground on turf.
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