The Sandown Hillside track has received 42mm of irrigation water and 0.6mm of rain over the last week. This morning's penetrometer readings at Sandown produced a score of 5.23. I know as recently as in July, a score of 5.12 at Sandown Hillside resulted in a track rating of Dead, yet today's 5.23 reading has produced a Good rating. This doesn't seem logical to me. I've noticed the same thing at Caulfield recently also, where the track's rating was determined to be Good even though it had a penetrometer reading that was higher than a previous one which determined the track was Dead. Is there something I've missed, or is the Melbourne Racing Club aware that fewer punters bet on Dead tracks than Good and are fudging the results in order to generate more money?

If you think that is odd, just check what Sydney readings are considered 'good 3' compared to Melb. tracks. Today's Rosehill reading would be a 'fast ' for any Melb. track!

..and if you really want to go crazy, just check out what NZ readings are considered 'good' [about 'slow' here]!

G'day Crash,

Penetrometer readings can vary a great deal between different tracks. The composition of each track is different, and some tracks just drain water much better than others. Each track will have determined a range for their penetrometer readings of what will constitute a Good track, a Dead track, etc., so comparing penetrometer readings of different tracks will be like comparing apples and oranges.

As far as I can tell, I'm comparing apples with apples here. If Sandown Hillside has had a reading of 5.12 in the past and was rated Dead, then how on earth can a reading of 5.23 be rated Good. Makes no sense to me. I might see if I can send an email to Melbourne Racing Club asking for an explanation. Maybe there's something I'm missing.

Cheers, S&S

I rate my own track readings where I'm betting after the first couple of races [track reading are as useless as tits on a bull in my opinion] and as I'm following Sandown today I'd rate it at about the better side of dead.

After that bolter won the last [r4], I'm doing badly regardless of track rating :-)