Here’s at least a partial explanation for the discrepancy in times for Saturday’s Grade 3 Go for Wand, a one-mile race won by Marley’s Freedom in 1:38.35, and the Grade 1 Cigar Mile won by Patternrecognition in 1:34.98.

The timing beam that is supposed to go start when the first runner hits the pole was blocked by the auxiliary gate that was parked on the outside fence of the main track. The times of the Go for Wand and two one-mile races earlier on the card were actually timed from when the gate doors opened and not from the pole. By watching the infield video board, the operator of the teletimer pressed the button as soon as the doors opened. In essence, those three races were farther than one mile.

The auxiliary gate was moved out of the way of the timing beam before the Cigar Mile. Thus, that race was timed when the first horse, Patternrecognition, reached the mile pole. There was a 54-foot run-up from the gate to the pole, thus he was able to run an opening quarter in 22.88 seconds. Marley’s Freedom’s first quarter was 25.27 seconds.

Now, I do believe the track changed significantly between the Go for Wand (race 6) and the Cigar Mile (race 9), as evidenced by the 4.67-second discrepancy between the Demoiselle (race 4), which Positive Spirit ran 1:56.01 for 1 1-8 miles and the Remsen, which Maximus Mischief ran 1 1-8 miles in 1:51.34 in race 8.

Obviously, Maximus Mischief is faster than Positive Spirit, just not 23 lengths faster.