Topic of the day - False Rail & Penetrometer

Good morning to all. I would like to know more about the False Rail and the Penetrometer. Does it have any advantages/disadvantages to runners? Tks.

My two cents worth:

The false rail is used in some countries and not in others - the supposed purpose of a false rail is to give horses coming from behind a better chance in that the chances of them being baulked are less; imo it certainly has it place on courses like Greyvill with it's short run-in; detractors of the false rail argues that it makes it easier for 'bad' jockey to find a run and therefor negates the skill of a jockey to an extent. In terms of advantages to spesific horses, I suppose it could be argued that front-runners and horses racing handy could have an advantage on courses where there are no false rails in place - but this advantage could be negated by a fast run race

The penetrometer is an instrument used to determine how 'hard' or 'soft' the turf is - lower numbers indicates firmer going and higher numbers softer going - there are definitely some horses that perform better when the going is good to firm ('on top') and other horses (probably the majority) that perform better on softer going ('give in the ground'); then there are also the 'mud-larks' who excell when the going is very soft (yielding and/or heavy)

Thanks Frodo for the info. Appreciated !

pen readings


0-15 Firm
15-23 Good
23-28 Slightly Soft
28-35 Soft
35+ Heavy

Pen reading of 0 = solid concrete. Has there ever been such a reading? The hardest I can remember was about 21.

Frodo or any one else, can you perhaps tell me if the false rail have any influence on the horses draw, ect drawn on the outside gonna do better or vice versa...thanx in advance clanners

'Andycap Wrote:

---

> Frodo or any one else, can you perhaps tell me if
> the false rail have any influence on the horses
> draw, ect drawn on the outside gonna do better or
> vice versa...thanx in advance clanners


False rails only come into play around the turn, so imo a 'wider' false rail would aid horses coming from behind (and these may have been drawn badly) - as it would give them more room to manoevre coming into the straight

Thanks Pal for answering my question. I will give this aspect sum attention to see if it can help me become a better player.

I think I have seen Bfn and Kim before looked like pen reading of close to 0......

When was the last time there was hardly any False rail at Greyville? changes the whole complexion of the race

My girlfriend likes my penetrator reading to be 15 or less.

I'm sure I've seen readings of 19 on our KZN courses sometimes.