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ARLINGTON NOTEBOOK JUNE 23, 2010 by David Zenner Since starting the Brisnet.com chats a couple of weeks ago, a number of participants have asked about the configuration of the Arlington turf course as well as rail placement, so I've decided to devote this week's notebook to all things green. A Little History Arlington's original turf course was a converted steeplechase course inside the main 1 1/8-mile oval. Steeplechase racing was held at Arlington on a limited basis in 1928 and 1929. After that, the inside course was converted to the equivalent of an inner-dirt course for a couple seasons before being returned to a one-mile grass oval in 1934. The course was used sparingly in the early years (three times a week) before gaining more popularity and being used for a race a day by the end of the 1930s. In 1941, the Arlington H. (G3) was raced on turf (it would later return to dirt before finally becoming turf staple in the 1950s). Until 1967, there was but one turf course -- a one-mile oval -- but in 1968 a second turf course was added (a 7 1/2-furlong inner turf course). This configuration was used until 1987 -- the main turf at one mile was about 75-80 feet wide while the inner turf was only about 55-60 ft wide. For three weeks around Arlington Million time each year, only the inner turf was used to preserve the main turf for the Arlington Million (G1). In 1989, when Arlington re-opened with a new grandstand, the entire turf, nearly 150 feet in width, was used as one course with five rail settings or lanes. Each lane is approximately 13 feet wide and timers are in place for each of those settings. In 1991, then-racing secretary Frank Gabriel started carding races at "about" distances to allow even more rail positions (i.e. lane 3, 6 feet out -- or roughly half way between lane 3 and lane 4) but no new timer eyes were added, thus the about distances. In 2007, with the loan of a rail from Fair Grounds, Arlington's New Orleans sister track, Arlington held it's first Turf Showcase with eight of the day's nine races run on turf. This was accomplished by temporarily reverting to the track's old two turf course set up with the Fair Grounds rail set in lane 1 and the existing Arlington rail set in lane 5. The following year, the dual turf was in place for Million Preview Day as well as Million Day to allowing a greater number of turf races to be held. Rail Placement The location of the rail is now being carried in the track program, though you should always listen for late announcements as occasionally weather, distance limitations or other reasons will cause the track to change the rail placement after the program is printed. "Absolute zero" is actually 10 feet inside of lane 1. Races with the rail at zero are run at about distances and are the only case of the race being run slightly shorter than the advertised distance. Lane 1 is 10 feet out, and each subsequent lane is 13 feet farther to the outside. Here's a simple chart of rail placements:
When you hear announcer John Dooley say the rail placement is 6 feet outside of Lane 3 (as it was last Thursday and Friday), that would mean the rail is 42 feet out from absolute zero but only 6 feet outside of the nearest set of timing eyes -- which to this reporter is more important. Another thing to take note of is the use of rail placements well to the outside of Lane 5, as much as 25 feet. When races are this far out -- essentially you are running in lane 7 but using lane 5 timing eyes -- the times are naturally very slow. Turf Trends Someone just keeping turf trends without regard to the rail would likely say that the Arlington turf is fair to all runners, and while that statement is true when taken as a whole, the fact of the matter is that thus far this season when the rail is set in Lanes 1, 2 or 3 (or from 0-42 feet out overall), the course has played to speed while Lanes 4 and beyond (rail 43-87 feet) has been better for closers. Horses to Watch Saturday (6/19) 4TH -- BOURBON TRAIL (Bright Launch) closed well into strong headwind prevalent early in the day. 6TH -- FREE FIGHTER (Out of Place) was caught behind a badly tiring horse to finish off the board as heavy favorite. Look for better regardless whether in state-bred or open company turf race. Sunday (6/20) 5TH -- JAKE'S SOLDIER (Lost Soldier) was unruly at the gate then broke awkwardly. In tight later, he made contact with others before shifting out for a minor piece. 9TH -- SCREEN LEGEND (Tiznow) broke inwardly, then moved up but was blocked again at the three-sixteenths before packing it in. Deserves another chance with clean trip. 10TH -- MING GLO (Brassy Wells) was fanned six-wide into the stretch and still got up for a share at a big price.
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