![Pic Polytrack Greyville 20210907 jpg]()
Hollywoodbets Greyville polytrack has long been believed to be biased towards the outside rail.
Is this still true?
It may have been the case in the past. However, Kurt Grunewald, the chief track manager, and his team have made efforts to ensure this is false and an analysis by Gold Circle of the 30 August 2021 meeting at Hollywoodbets Greyville illustrated little perceivable benefit to running on the outside.
To contrary, the supposed advantage of being on the outside may have cost FLYING FIRST CLASS, who placed third in race four the win as her performance was hindered by the effect of drifting towards the outside rail with eventual winner, YOU DESERVE IT, and runner up, TOP ME UP HOLLY.
ORIGAMI and ARROW'S MARK proved the manoeuvre unnecessary in the very next race, finishing first and second respectively while sticking to the inside rail.
Grunewald pointed out having a spur on the polytrack had not helped matters in the past as the tight corner would force runners to the outside. The spur has been done away with.
To prevent an argument that a possible difference in weight between harrowing machines could cause a bias, the machines now change positions each time they go on the track. This is done both when preparing for and when smoothing the track during a racemeeting.
Despite the time required to level the 2000m track by hand, the team has recently increased the frequency of this task from once every six months to once every four weeks and hope to keep up that rate.
Watering through the course of a racemeeting helps keep the polytrack cool in order to prevent kickback. This should help alleviate the need for horses coming from behind to switch to the inside or outside in order to avoid said kickback.