Beyer Baffles
Saturday we saw Mucho Macho Man and Awesome Feather wow in the Sunshine Millions Distaff and Classic. Awesome Feather drilled her competition early, with blistering early splits, and still had enough left to spurt away from any closing challengers. She earned an initial BSF of 101. Mucho Macho Man rated comfortably off of moderate fractions before cranking the tempo way, way up, and while making and holding a sustained move all the way to the wire. His time nearly equaled the track record and for that effort he was given an initial figure of 107.
Sunday, Todd Pletcher fired three shots, each of them dead eyes. Algorighms swept by Hansen, the 2011 Juvenile Champion, earning a 98. That same day Forward Gal dominator, Broadway’s Alibi, and impressive allowance winner El Padrino, were given identical figures of 100.
Over the last several days, the Beyer team has been tinkering away with the numbers and arrived at some questionable conclusions. Mucho Macho Man was downgraded from his 107 to a 100 while Awesome Feather also slipped to a 96. It was a strange development, one that I could not understand, but Beyer is sometimes known for making sudden, unorthodox changes in his numbers.Then, news came detailing that Algorithms figure had been boosted seven points. Hearing this I could not help but check to see if some of the other performances had also been moved up….they had not.
This new twist literally had me shaking my head, wondering what on earth is Andrew Beyer thinking? Mucho Macho Man runs one of the fastest mile splits of the meet, a 22 and change internal quarter, and a final time that nearly ties the track record and only gets a 100? Broadway’s Alibi literally routes her competition, running brilliant splits, winning in dazzling fashion and only gets a 100? Broadway ran on the exact same track, the exact same day, running faster splits, than Algorithms and yet she remains the same while he is boosted five points higher than her? What sense does that make?
Beyer’s team quotes the excuse of time controversy. One system, the Teleview Racing Patrol which posted the official time of 1.36.17 and the new Trackus system, used by Gulfstream which posted a final time of 1.35.09. So, basically what we are hearing from Team B is that Algorithms Beyer spike was based on nothing but speculation. If Beyer and his team cannot stick to the facts, and put out numbers based on the official stats, then maybe it is time for them to stop putting out numbers all together.