Thick fog can't stop record-setting One Touch

How thick was the fog Friday night at Turfway? Mike Battaglia, who began calling races there more than 40 years ago, said it was “the worst I can ever recall.”

Equibase’s Steve Peery, who has called charts for 18 years, agreed.

“Usually, there are spots where you can make out who is who,” said Peery. “But this was the thickest I’ve ever seen. It was surreal.”

The fog started rolling in prior to the third race. With Peery unable to make out the horses in the fog, the chart for the fourth race had no running order or margins until the stretch, and the charts for the rest of the evening’s races had no running order or margins until the finish.

The fog was no hindrance whatsoever to One Touch, a 4-year-old gelding who lowered the Polytrack record for a mile when he won the eighth race Friday night in 1:35.50.

Bred and owned by Sierra Farm, One Touch earned an 88 Beyer Speed Figure with a 7 1/4-length triumph in the third-level allowance race. Jack Gilligan was aboard for trainer Jimmy Corrigan.

The former record of 1:35.61 was set in December 2006 by Forth and Forever, trained by Vickie Foley. Polytrack has been in use at Turfway since September 2005.

◗ Field size for the opening four-day weekend averaged a robust 10.1 horses per race, and more big fields are on tap as another four-day week gets under way Thursday at 6:15 p.m. Eastern.

◗ The next stakes at Turfway, the $50,000 Prairie Bayou, is set for Dec. 19. The top race this coming Saturday is a first-level allowance with a purse of $18,500, which includes $8,500 from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund.