The Derby, The Surface & The Tout

It's a given that today one of the toughest racing situations to try and handicap is when a horse that has had good success on a Synthetic racing surface is trying to carry his success onto a basic natural Dirt surface. Such is the case of Pioneer of the Nile in this year's Kentucky Derby.

Now I am not selecting Pioneer as my Derby horse. Let's get that straight.

However what I want to discuss is that while going over the Derby articles and columns with the quest of picking up as much information on the big race as possible, I was surprised to read a statement made by a very gifted and respected racing figure at Daily Racing Form stating that "he is throwing out Pioneer of The Nile because he never ran on a natural dirt surface".

He compares this current Derby/racing situation of Pioneer of the Nile's to how Curlin failed in his attempt to go from natural dirt to Synthetic in his Breeders' Cup Classic effort last year.

I am scratching my head in disbelief after reading such a statement. Talk about apples and oranges!

To start, going from Synthetic to Dirt (Pioneer) is much easier on a horse than going from Dirt to Synthetic (Curlin).

Synthetic is a deeper, slower surface which adds more conditioning and bottom to a horse. therefore a horse could have an edge going onto a natural dirt surface following a Synthetic surface effort.

On the other hand, going from Dirt to Synthetic a horse might be at a conditioning disadvantage since the Synthetic surface is deeper (Curlin).

Last year Curlin was at the end of a long campaign and he was simply a tired horse. I find this to be the main reason as to why he lost last year's BC Classic. Arguably at least one of the reasons.

Currently Pioneer of the Nile has a list of reasons as to why he could win this year's Derby. He has to be regarded as one of the top contenders. Now brace yourself but Pioneer even figures to be faster on a natural dirt surface! It's very possible!

I could continue and turn this into the longest Blog in history by explaining just how bad that statement was. So please understand the racing surfaces first before posting such a poor judgement on a horses probable ability because he never raced over a natural dirt surface.