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ARLINGTON NOTEBOOK MAY 19, 2010 by David Zenner The speed bias that was in evidence during the first two weeks not only vanished during week three, but by the end of the four-day race week, there appeared to be a slight bias toward closers. With limited turf racing during week three, there was more-than-usual Polytrack racing with 38 races run over the synthetic surface. Speed horses accounted for just 18 percent of the winners and pressers did only slightly better at 21 percent winners. Stalkers and closers made up the bulk of the winners last week -- a far cry from weeks one and two. Inside runners continue to play better than outside runners, but that could just as well be a function of field size as bias. It was, however, a very bad week for favorites with the public's choice accounting for barely 21 percent of the winners but at the same time, second- and third-choices clearly did okay since 60 percent of last week's Polytrack winners were dispatched at odds of 3-1 or less. With a sample size now of more than 100 (101 races over Polytrack to be exact), the season-to-date picture now favors stalkers at 33 percent, followed closely by speed horses (31 percent). Green not so much Heavy rains kept the turf mostly unused last week, with only Sunday's grass races kept on that surface -- so it would be hard to draw any conclusions as to trends with just the three races over the course. The human element Junior Alvarado, Tim Thornton and Mike Baze held the hot hands as far as jockeys go, each booting home five winners last week. James Graham celebrated his birthday a day early with a double while Chris Emigh had a Saturday triple and is starting to win races in bunches. Alvarado and Baze are separated by one win in the standings, which are very competitive this year with five wins separating the top five. Hugh Robertson had a Sunday double to bring his week total to four, equaling that of Wayne Catalano while Chris Block, Dale Bennett and Dan Peitz all had good weeks as well. For the meet to date, Catalano leads the pack with 10 wins, two more than Nick Canani and Larry Rivelli. HORSES TO WATCH Thursday (5/13) 6TH -- DEPUTY SREVA (Silver Deputy) raced very wide on far turn and was making up considerable ground in stretch. 10TH -- VICKY'S BAR (Deerhound) found herself in tight quarters early on but traveled well once shaking clear before being forced wide turning for home. She still able to make up ground and fill-out the superfecta. Friday (5/14) 1ST -- KATIE'S LADY (Stormy Atlantic) was knocked off stride at the start and then carried wide into the stretch but still closed for a minor share. Sunday (5/16) 6TH -- BULLET FROM ABOARD (Red Bullet) was one of the few main track speed horses to manage to hang on for even a minor share on a day the track was clearly favoring the come-from-behind sort.
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