http://www.harnesslink.com/www/Article.cgi?ID=88922
Luke McCarthy is quoted as saying ''Given that they measure their tracks in the United States on the pegs, and we measure our track one metre out from the pegs..."

McCarthys comments are interesting.

I'm not a mathematician but I know when running around a football oval I like to hug the line as much as possible because it saves ground; and I am about as fit as Jayne Davies so I feel every centimetre.

Also here is my mathematics.
American track with radius 200m has circumference of 2 x pi x 200 = 6.28 x 200 = 1256metres.

If that same track was measured in Australia it would have 201m radius. Therefore 2 x pi x 201 = 6.28 x 201 = 1262.28 metres. An extra 6.28metres.

Bare in mind that is with a circle and not an oval or whatever shape you want to call a harness track; but fact of the matter is its an extra distance.

So lets say for a 1600m metre race at Menangle compared to some other 1400m track in America our horses are covering 8 extra metres.
At a 2minute mile 4m = 0.3 secs so 8metres = 0.6secs. Of course going faster at say 1.48.5 8metres = about 0.55 secs (havent done maths for this just estimated). So really Smoken Up is a 1.48 performer. Somebeachsomewhere holds the world record of 1.46.5 if I have that correct. That is just 1.5 secs inside of us. 20metres going 2minutes so less of a margin say 16metres (estimation) at that pace. Thats just 4 lengths!!!!! And they have a much bigger horse base! Amazing really.