[lsosa54]

In Southern California, all the tracks are now some form of poly except FPX, the fair after Del Mar. If you keep a track profile and some model of your handicapping, it's the same process as it's always been. You handicap and bet accordingly once you use whatever you use to make final choices.

When you're looking at the change of meets, it can be tricky because the times do tend to vary. I remember the times at Del Mar were very slow last year and routes for awhile were being won by deep closers and I mean deep.

I don't use Trackmaster but I believe the Sartin programs handle the problem well with the 2 adjust, as long as you've done your best to insure the horse is a true contender and not just a slow horse, Del mar or not.

I think sustained runners have a better overall chance now than they once did on the hard baked SoCal surfaces of the 80's and 90's but I sometimes handicap the tapeta up at GG and I think it plays very fair to the matchup most times. I wish they had tapeta down south.

This will be the 2nd year of Del Mar's poly track so the only remaining unknown will be Santa Anita's new surface starting with Oak Tree and the Breeder's Cup.

Regarding shippers, there aren't a ton of them that win in Southern Cal. If they don't have a poly line to judge you might be bale to take a look at local workouts to make a judgement but the 2 adjust will do a nice job. If the horse has never run on poly, you'll never know for sure although I know there are folks out there who are developing an expertise on poly breeding, even by types of poly. I'll leave that fun to them.

As for the turf angle, I can't say that I've seen it any easier for a turf horse to move up on poly vs. dirt or for a poly horse who's never run on the turf to do the reverse. I still feel they are 2 distinctly different surfaces.