Quote Originally Posted by wholelotasound View Post
Hey Roger, The Devonport at Spreyton race meetings are run on the tapeta surface (Carpet based) same track as the gallopers do there. Its a thick surface that definately makes the horses work much harder. The carts sink into the surface as well. Tasracing is currently trialling the pacers there but seems to favor front runners and horses that have been trained on the track. Very hard to bet on from a punters prospective, also the slow mile rates make it hard to follow form. There are alot of tired horses at the finish so they definately wouldnt need to increase the distances. Some horses seem to do well consistently but others dont run well on it at all. Will be intereseting to see what prospects Tasracing have to continue racing at this venue.
Hello Ben do you know if Tasracing is monitoring injury rates for pacers racing on the synthetic track? The US experience in gallops racing on synthetic tracks versus their traditional dirt tracks showed a reduction in catastrophic breakdowns but an increase in hind end soft tissue injuries. As the pacing/trotting horses in general suffer more hindleg injuries then their galloping counterparts as a result of their gait I am curious if the authorities are monitoring the possible effects of racing on a synthetic track. Would be interesting to know with regard to possible future racing opportunities for pacers on synthetic tracks.

Roger it does sound like the timing in some instances is just wrong. Synthetic track characteristics can vary considerably with variations in temperature but not like the lead time variations you describe.