Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff P
Back in the 1980's I lived in Phoenix and made it to Turf Paradise most weekdays and almost every Sat and Sun.
The dirt surface back then had a lot of clay in it. To say it didn't handle water would be an understatement.
You almost never see it these days because (in my opinion) most tracks cancel at the drop of a feather...
But remember the letters HY for track condition heavy?
Phoenix doesn't get a lot of rain to begin with. Whenever it rained more than about three quarters of an inch the Turf Paradise dirt surface would become this deep and sticky bog. Imo, the letters HY didn't begin to describe it. Not the kind of stuff you'd want to make your horse race in unless you knew going in he could handle it.
I recall being there one Sunday afternoon sometime in the mid 1980's -- and hearing the track announcer cut in and say - not a direct quote but me paraphrasing:
At some point later on that afternoon - the thought occurred to me how cool it was (both from a betting perspective and an aesthetics perspective) to have EVERY race conducted on the turf course.
I also remember thinking that if they were going to take the races off the dirt and run them on the turf course:
I wish it would rain more often!
-jp
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Aqueduct should have used the HY or SL track designation this year at least a few times. It was as slow as any track I've seen in 30 years.
