Time Check please

http://www.harness.org.au/meeting-re...ic#BNC19111503

In the first at Bendigo tonight over 1650m they have run 1.54.1

6yo mare Miss Metro Glen has led and beaten her best winning time by 4.8 sec
Best winning time's are not everything but I still estimate she has gone over 2 sec's faster than her previous best race time - set here 12 days ago when she had the sit

3rd placed 6yo mare Nobetterthanthis has only been beaten by 3m and I estimate she has gone over 3 secs faster than her previous fastest which was also here 12 days ago

4th placed 4yo gelding Twoforsixty has been beaten 3.6m and has gone over 3 secs faster than his previous best

5th placed 6yo mare Slice Of Life has only been beaten 5.4m and has gone about 4 secs faster than her previous best

You would be scratching your head if you owned odds on fav, 4yo mare, Hells Confession who ran 2nd from the Death who had by far the fastest race time in the race and got beat despite beating her fastest by .5 of a second

Kevin, in my mind, there is no doubt from time to time the electronic timing does fail or records incorrect sections. You often hear the racecallers say "that can't be right" or "no sectional for that quarter". A slight malfunction can have a huge effect on the overall time.
The one that sticks in my mind was at Menangle in March this year. The magical sub 1.50 has only been broken by a hand full of horses since it opened.
Then in the Ladyship mile this year, the winner Adore Me smashes the record by over a second and even the mare that finished 8th is recorded as running 1.49.8
To have 8 in one race when only a small number of top liners could do it makes you wonder.

We will have to get out the stopwatches Bails. I am awaiting a track report from Noel - I am expecting it to state that the track was lightening fast last night

The track at Bendigo was as usual, very fast (and nicely cushioned). No surprises with the fast times in the 1:54s in two races. Chris Bosely and Tom Byrne do a great job with this track which is widely recognized as Victoria's best...for speed and for horse comfort.

It was great to hear Pat Driscoll (Yabby Dams Farm) owner of the French trotter Used To Me, state that they brough the horse to Bendigo because of the track...(to record a fast time for when he stands at stud?)
Used To Me was a tick outside an old standing start and distance record recording 2.01.2 from the stand.

Shane Tritton has out an interesting theory about Adore Me and the Menangle track record after his mare Arms Of An Angel ran 1:50.7 there. He feels that the Menangle track becomes lightning quick when a thunderstorm is brewing. The humid conditions tighten and compact the track surface. Both Adore Me and Arms Of An Angel had the benefit of these conditions. It certainly makes sense to me but does anyone have a scientific approach on how this could occur within the track surface?

I actually did a google search but found nothing relevant Kane. I would not rule out that it could help have a track in peak condition if everything else has been done but I think that the 'everything else' would be far more important. Maybe humidity retains the compacting benefit a spray with the water tanker provides or maybe humidity is conducive to horses running quick but somehow me thinks humidity might be worth .1 sec to the track surface in the whole scheme of things

Shane might just be on the money as atmospheric pressure changes in and around thunderstorms!

Conditions in the atmosphere change a lot over a small distance in the vicinity of thunderstorms. As the air goes up in the thunderstorm’s updraft, it creates an area of low pressure under the updraft that acts to pull air in from around the thunderstorm.

This low pressure region is also typically a few millibars lower than the environment of the storm, so just may create the conditions, a fraction less resistance to allow for those faster times.

I raised this with Shane and others a few weeks back on Twitter.

It is absolutely correct.

http://cyclist.com.au/rain

Interesting stuff Steve and Harvey and probably more relevant than Shane's reference to track surface - it is all about cutting through the air
I should have googled speed and humidity/air pressure not soil and humidity :p

Adore Me was certainly smack bang in the middle of the sweet spot. I thought the theory would be quite complicated but Steve and Harvey's explanations made it quite simple to understand. My bad Kev,I thought track hardness was a major factor.