From a purely handicapping perspective, I’ve never understood the complaints about synthetic surfaces. Yes, they are different than dirt but races on synthetic aren’t the undecipherable mess that some in the industry claim that they are. I think it’s a non-issue in terms of betting.

From a horse health perspective, like you said, there are reports that say they are safer and then are reports that say there is little to no difference. Tough to know what to believe. If the trainers don’t like synthetics and feel they are harder on their horses, then I would defer to their opinion.

The thing that bothered me about the Santa Anita debacle is that no other track with a synthetic course had the same issues. Many in the industry have used SA as Exhibit A that “Synthetic tracks are broken” but no other track had drainage problems even remotely similar to SA.

Agree on the owner.