The astute racehandicapper seeks to ensure that his selections have everything possible going for them. He is aware that when the track is anything but good or fast any selections he may make must be suspect.

You might think that with the amount of racing information we have today that making selections on a wet track is less prone to risk than in the past. A typical form guide now may well look like this
 

STS	FAST	GOOD	DEAD	SLOW	HEAVY
44	6	21	8	6	3
WINS	1	5	3	1	-
PLACE	-	5	3	1	1

You would gain the impression from looking at this record that the horse was at his best on a dead track and that his form falls off as the track conditions deteriorate. It also appears that as the track conditions dry out the horse’s form again drops off. The error here is that we do not know whether the horse was fit for those fast track runs or whether the distance was right. The sample applies for the slow and heavy track runs, as there are only a small number of them. The same kind of error may well occur in the form records of other contenders.

We do not know either, whether or not the wet track runs were early in the horse’s career or if in fact some of those runs were against much lesser class horses. It is also possible that some of the beaten runs were against much higher class horses.

Other errors may also creep in to our assessments of other horses in the same race with one error compounding another and in the end it is no wonder that results on wet tracks can be full of surprises.

The major blunders on wet tracks however are not those that I have listed above. The major blunders lay wholly and soley on the race clubs who persists in giving out incorrect track readings in the hope that attendance and betting will not falter. You will have heard that famous quote from numerous interviews with racecourse managers when a dead reading is give out, "No racehorse will be inconvenienced by the going today".

For your information I give the definitions for the track classifications as they are today.

FAST The track is in perfect order. The weather will be fine and hot and there will be very little moisture in the ground. It would not be uncommon to see clouds of dust thrown up as the effect of track watering wears off as the meeting progresses. It is in these conditions that track records are often broken.

GOOD The most frequent track condition encountered. Everything will have gone right for the ground staff. The grass cover will be even and only the occasional clod will be thrown up. The VATC staff endeavour to bring the Sandown and Caulfield courses to these conditions for every meeting by carefully calculating just the right amount of watering on the days preceeding the race meeting. An overnight storm can upset these plans. A consistent hot spell can cause similar upsets. In the Spring of 1991 the two courses were maintained in near perfect order with records broken across the board.

DEAD When this condition is give out be warned! It can and sometimes does mean anything. I have had discussions on this issue with stewards and racecourse managers across the major racing centres in all the different eastern states. I doubt if conditions are any different in other centres.

You will be aware that, depending on the location, stewards, jockeys and sometimes horses will cover the course about 7:30am. If the weather has been wet for some days the conditions will have been monitored the previous day and evening as well. Whilst Good track is generally good and even right around, the same cannot be said for a dead track. The very statement "Track Dead" indicates that the track is unevenly wet. This could range from a number of circumstances. Some sections of the track may be quite good but others may be just damp and still other sections could be badly affected for 100’s of metres. This is the point. A Dead track is uneven!

The worst of dead tracks is that if the weather has cleared you may still need to stay on the ball in case the track condition improves. You have to remember that the track conditions are assessed at 7:30am and four or five hours of sunshine or wind can make a marked difference. When the Queen opened the new stand at Randwick in February 1992 the track was upgraded after the first race! Obviously the track was already good for that first race but stewards are reluctant to change conditions until at least one race has been run and sometimes two. This way there can be no criticism of the decisions made.

I cannot emphasise enough the need to avoid dead track conditions. They can range from just slightly worse than good to just slightly better than slow.

SLOW A slow track is one that is generally quite soggy. The rain may well have been coming down for days although it is not unknown for a brief summer storm to produce these conditions. The track will be fairly evenly wet but the danger in the case of slow conditions is that horses may handle slow conditions at one track but not at another. This is often because of differences in the surface of different tracks. Some tracks, notably Rosehill before the 1992 upgrade, were like a graveyard to some horse's chances once they become wet. Other tracks like Newcastle's Broadmeadow track, seem to soak up the water like a sponge because of the sandy base. I don't really need to add to this. Stay clear of Slow track conditions.

HEAVY Even those experts who advocate that you can make money by backing horses whose form records indicate that they can handle wet tracks will advise you to steer clear of Heavy track conditions. When this track condition is given out it is only after the stewards have decided against calling the meeting off. In some cases the meeting may well be abandoned if fruther rain falls.

Never be taken in by those supposed mudrunners. To my mind, a horse that can only race well when the track conditions are suspect is not a reliable conveyance. I  would hope that my readers are not gamblers but prudent investors looking for ways to eliminate risk, not increase it!

My advice If the Track is Wet..Don't Bet!