Tuesday Morning Thoughts

A happy Tuesday morning to everyone (or afternoon, depending on where you are reading from).

I've got a couple of different posts I'm working on right now that I should have up in the next day. The first is a breakdown of the split times for the recently concluded Royal Ascot meeting (as provided by TurfTrax). Courses in the UK are slowly moving towards fractional timing and the data provides some excellent clues and discussion as to how races are run and won.

I'm also in the process of updating the Graded Stakes Results and Divisional Standings file; we're almost to the half-way point on the 2012 racing calendar and there are some definite trends developing in several of the divisions.

Looking ahead to later in the week, there's a big weekend of racing on tap out at Prairie Meadows where the G3-Iowa Derby, G3-Iowa Oaks and G3-Cornhusker Handicap highlight the activity. On Friday night, Prairie Meadows will feature the Iowa Sprint Handicap, the Saylorville Stakes and the Iowa Distaff. Also this weekend, Betfair Hollywood Park features a pair of Grade 1s: the G1-Shoemaker Mile and the G1-Triple Bend Handicap.