TTimes: Santa Anita to refurbish dirt surface
You almost can't make this stuff up anymore.
According to the article, this "refurb" is a complete installation of a new dirt surface. That sounds more like a replacement than a refurbishment.
By my count, this is about the 900th refurbishment of the Santa Anita main track in the last five years. During the "Age of Plastic", the problems with the track were blamed on the synthetic surface. Now, after the "Return to Glorious Dirt", the issue revolves around decreasing the amount of clay and increasing the amount of sand in the surface. All of the issues, regardless of the type of surface, seem to crop up after heavy rains.
11 months ago
Matt Gardner
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Is this the death knell of synthetics?
You’d have to assume that the other California tracks will follow.
I’ve said the solution (if there is one) is less dirt racing and more turf racing, not a mad scientist trying to invent better dirt.
I don't think so
Synthetics have been fine at Keeneland and Woodbine; even Hollywood and Golden Gate seem to hold up well (Del Mar has had issues). But for some reason, Santa Anita can’t get it right, either dirt or synthetic.
It’s good that they are trying to fix it cause I thought last winter/spring’s dirt was a bit on the absurd side given how fast the track was.
"A bad day at the track is better than a good day at the office."
And Down The Stretch They Come | @PressThePace
by Matt Gardner on Jun 24, 2011 10:04 AM EDT up reply actions
I just hate the fact that synthetic is a completely different playing field when it comes to how the horses perform on it. In Cali, they’re going to run synthetic most of the time and only run on dirt at SA? That seems odd, particularly that SA is the biggest track out there. Same as I hate the fact that half of KY’s tracks (Churchill and Ellis) are dirt and the other half (Keeneland and Turfway) are synthetic and it creates a divide that doesn’t need to be there.
And I really hate that now you’re going to have horses that are retired to breed that have only really ever won on synthetic. That’s a huge unknown of how their progeny are going to perform. I mean Zenyatta is obviously an extreme case, but what if she had straight up flopped on dirt? Where does thave leave you? There are just so many questions when it comes to stuff like this that it all makes me uncomfortable thinking about the permutations.
That's true, and are certainly legitimate concerns.
Other than Santa Anita, I don’t know of any other synthetic tracks that are even considering switching back to dirt. And right now, it looks like California is going to be split for quite some time. Last time I heard Del Mar comment on the issue (if I recall correctly) they indicated they weren’t even considering going back to dirt, regardless of what Santa Anita did. And I’ve read similar things from Keeneland (of course, they are partners in Polytrack, so that isn’t surprising).
Aside from the surfaces themselves, it appears Santa Anita is suffering from a general issue with installation and maintenance. They’ve had horrible problems with both synthetic and dirt during heavy rains the last few years that I’m not sure what they intend to do differently to solve the problem. I have no real knowledge but it sure sounds like a drainage issue. Perhaps it’s just a freak occurrence.
"A bad day at the track is better than a good day at the office."
And Down The Stretch They Come | @PressThePace
by Matt Gardner on Jun 24, 2011 4:09 PM EDT up reply actions
In terms of breeding..
I would think that the synthetic era will cause some breeders and/or purchasers to value those horses that displayed an ability to run over different surfaces successfully (if they plan on owning a horse in an area where all three surfaces are present). Lookin At Lucky won over both poly and dirt in his career; Panty Raid won over all three types of surfaces, as has Sidney’s Candy.
I would think breeding for synthetic will end up similar to dirt and turf, and I suppose a synthetic-only horse is no more of a question mark than a turf-only horse (although his pedigree should shed some light onto whether he would have preferred dirt or turf, at least minimally).
"A bad day at the track is better than a good day at the office."
And Down The Stretch They Come | @PressThePace
by Matt Gardner on Jun 24, 2011 4:33 PM EDT up reply actions
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