HAND TIMED TURF RACES (HOL)????

[delayjf]

On the paceadvantage bb the discussion was how do tracks handle the rails as far as the timing of turf races are concerned, do they move the timing beams, or what? One So Cal player who seemed knowlegable and sincere said that the turf races at Hollywood were hand timed. This was stunning to me as I'd never heard that before. If races are hand timed isn't it usually annotated in the charts?? Can this be true??? Anybody know for sure?

[Ken Massa]

All races at major tracks are hand-timed as a backup in case the automatic timer breaks down. When the rails are moved out on the turf course, the timers are supposedly placed in the correct position. But oddball times at various tracks over the years (especially Florida) have proven there is no reliability to this. SoCal tracks, however, are better than most and do a pretty good job of timing the turf races even when the rails are up. If there was a handtime race at HOL it was due to breakdown of the automatic system.

Rail position on the grass course is no exact science. It can vary from 10 to 70 feet and the reported distance is not perfectly measured, often estimated. The Quirin Pace and Performance ratings (QPP) in HTR take into account the fractional oddities and timing quirks of this situation. The QPP algorithm irons out the problems inherit with changes to the physical racecourse allowing the numbers to remain true and accurate. I updated energy adjustments for the turf Pace figures in HTR2001 QPP that were not present in HTR (DOS).

[delayjf]

Thanks Ken for clearing that up, That didn't sound right to me, I don't know his source but me thinks he was mis-informed. So the rail placement adjustments are to the QPP ratings only??