At Del Mar, the Inside Track Is on the Outside

Track foreman Robert Hernandez swears the main dirt track at Del Mar is not slanted. Veteran handicapper Bill Murray is not so sure.

Murray thinks it’s no coincidence that, through Wednesday, nearly one of every four horses (24%) that starts on the extreme outside is winning. And that of the first 50 races in this year’s meet, 27 have been won by horses starting in one of the three outside positions.

“About 10 years ago, it used to be the horses on the inside that dominated, but that’s all changed,” said Murray, who has written five novels on horse racing and has been coming to Del Mar for almost 25 years. “We used to call the inside ‘the jet stream.’ But there was a flood in (1980) and I think the track’s surface has changed since then. The horses that start on the inside seem to be all used up by the stretch, and the horses on the outside seem to be fresher.”

The ‘outside’ trend was never more evident than on Sunday, when five of the six Pick Six races were won by horses that started on the extreme outside. The only outside horse that lost did so on the turf course.

Hernandez admitted he’s noticed the early trend of outside horses running well, but said the track’s surface has nothing to do with it.

“The track is the same depth all the way across,” Hernandez said. “We could cut it deeper, but then it wouldn’t be even. We’ve got a two and 3/4 inch cushion now and that seems to be working fine.”

But Murray thinks something should be done to make the track more uniform.

“When tracks are dominated by a particular position, it’s up to the track superintendent to make adjustments,” Murray said. “Here, they never change anything.”

Are bettors changing their philosophy to compensate for a possible track bias?

“All the smart bettors definitely are watching what’s happened so far,” he said. “It’s hard to ignore.”

Jockey Robbie Davis’ rough start got even rougher Wednesday when he injured his back during a morning workout. After finishing fourth in the Del Mar jockey standings last year, Davis has been shut out in 32 starts through five days.

Davis, 29, was held out of Wednesday’s races and will probably miss Thursday’s card and well. His last victory came in his final race at Hollywood Park.

Perceive Arrogance, coming off a seven-month layoff, will attempt to prevent Bayakoa from becoming the first female to win the San Diego Handicap Saturday. The $150,000 Grade III race will cover 1 1/16 miles. Laffit Pincay Jr. will ride Bayakoa, given a high weight of 122 pounds. Corey Black will ride Perceive Arrogance.