Let’s face it; synthetic surfaces are here to stay, despite some recent fatalities in California and Kentucky.
One of the best explanations for the fatalities I have seen was an article in Daily Racing Form by foreign correspondent Alan Shuback, written in 2007! Here’s some of what he wrote then:
“But the injuries that American horses suffer in racing and training can be blamed on more than racing surfaces alone. The design of the track has much to do with it, as does the distance of the races. Britain’s three Polytracks at Lingfield, Kempton, and Wolverhampton, as well as the French Polytracks at Deauville and Cagnes-sur-Mer, have wide, sweeping turns with long straights. Moreover, there are many more races run there at a mile or longer than there are in America. The new U.S. synthetic tracks will be used, as are all American dirt tracks, primarily – and in some cases almost exclusively – for sprints. The tension caused by horses reaching the first turn in such events will be eased only slightly by the new synthetic surfaces.
In addition, all of our synthetic surface races will be contested by horses running on raceday medication, a prime reason for the deterioration of the American Thoroughbred. By contrast, the horses running on synthetic surfaces in England and France are drug-free.”
There’s also a misconception by some people that the reason the Europeans did so well on the Pro-Ride surface was because they were turf horses. Not exactly!
Did you know, for example, that the Jockey Club Estates in the UK that provide training surfaces at places like Newmarket and Lambourn actually operate 28 artificial training tracks? Top-level European horses may race on turf, but they train on synthetics, too!
In the US we have the following synthetic tracks:
Santa Anita (Pro-Ride)
Hollywood (Cushion)
Golden Gate (Tapeta)
Presque Isle Downs (Tapeta)
Keeneland (Polytrack)
Woodbine (Polytrack)
Arlington (Polytrack)
Del Mar (Polytrack)
Turfway (Polytrack)
Overseas the synthetics are:
Singapore Turf Club at Kranji (Polytrack)
Kempton Park in UK (Polytrack)
Wolverhampton Racecourse in UK (Polytrack)
Lingfield Racecourse in UK (Polytrack)
Dundalk Racecourse in Ireland (Polytrack)
Great Leighs in UK (Polytrack)
Cagnes-sur-Mer in France (Polytrack)
The Curragh in Ireland (training track is Polytrack)
JRA training center in MIHO in Japan (Polytrack)
Jockey Club Estates in UK (28 synthetic training tracks)
Deauville in France (synthetic)
Maisons Laffitte in France (training track is synthetic)
Chantilly in France (training track is synthetic)
Meydan Racecourse in Dubai (training track will be synthetic)