{"id":9724,"date":"2017-02-13T13:58:49","date_gmt":"2017-02-13T19:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/?p=9724"},"modified":"2017-02-13T13:58:49","modified_gmt":"2017-02-13T19:58:49","slug":"what-the-next-new-racetrack-needs-to-be-bigger-better-three-surfaces-dirt-turf-tapeta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/what-the-next-new-racetrack-needs-to-be-bigger-better-three-surfaces-dirt-turf-tapeta\/","title":{"rendered":"What The Next New Racetrack Needs To Be. Bigger & Better With Three Surfaces. Dirt, Turf & Tapeta."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Aqueduct_Racetrack\"<\/p>\n

When synthetic tracks were first put on the agenda in the US a few years ago, the debate and opposition amongst trainers, owners, bettors and racing fans raged long and hard. Feelings ran high.\u00a0Traditionalists favored the dirt track surface that they were familiar with, over a synthetic track that they were not. Yet the hard evidence of the massively increased safety of synthetic tracks was already on the table for all to see, even then. Ireland, the UK and France had installed multiple synthetic tracks 20 years previously. Synthetic tracks’ safety records for\u00a0horses and riders were spectacular, but many US horsemen simply did not want to hear it. (If anyone seriously doubts now after several years of solid statistics and records, that synthetic tracks are not significantly safer for horses than dirt tracks, I would be happy to introduce them to a good psychiatrist.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

A few years on, Santa Anita and Keeneland made the decision to take out their synthetic tracks and go back to dirt. The installation of Santa Anita’s synthetic surface was questionably managed, as was its maintenance program. Keeneland – well that’s another story… But it was a sad day for the horses at both venues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"GoldenGate\"Other tracks however have now realized what a boon their racing synthetic tracks truly are. Woodbine, Turfway Park, Presque Isle Downs and Golden Gate Fields horsemen, many of whom were previously die hard dirt track protagonists, now fully embrace the synthetic surfaces and love\u00a0training and racing over them.<\/p>\n

They know their horses are enjoying the surface. They know their horses are in better shape. They know they are seeing far fewer catastrophic career ending injuries. They know their horses are sounder and are\u00a0generally\u00a0able to run more often. They know their barns are fuller, and business is better, as a result of the synthetic surface.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What horsemen actually objected to when California mandated to switch all their tracks from dirt to synthetic, was that they were being told that they had to replace the one with the other. If the mandate had been\u00a0to install synthetic tracks in addition to the existing\u00a0dirt tracks, rather than\u00a0instead of them, it is a fair bet\u00a0that curiosity and interest would have replaced fear and angst, as the dirt tracks were\u00a0not being taken\u00a0away. Unfortunately, space and\u00a0existing racetrack layouts scuppered\u00a0that possibility. It had to be one surface, or the other.<\/p>\n

The next racetrack built in the USA, whenever it comes, will hopefully have enough space\u00a0that it can be designed differently to current tracks, thus enabling three different surfaces for owners and trainers to run and train their horses on. Ideally it will\u00a0also\u00a0be a bigger set of ovals, as most horsemen agree that at speed, gradual turns are kinder to horses than tighter\u00a0ones. Perhaps\u00a0it would\u00a0look like this.<\/p>\n

1) A mile and an eighth inner dirt track.<\/p>\n

2) A mile and a quarter\u00a0turf\u00a0track.<\/p>\n

3) A mile and a half\u00a0synthetic (Tapeta please) track.<\/p>\n

The three tracks should also be equipped with chutes to enable flexibility in the distance of their races.<\/p>\n

Possible? Of course. Good news? How could it not be?\u00a0A solution\u00a0that appeases all comers by giving\u00a0horsemen the option of running their horses on the surface that they prefer, or\/and which suits their individual horses best.<\/p>\n

And how interesting it would be to see, over time, which surface\u00a0becomes the most popular for both training and racing. And to see which surface produces\u00a0the biggest field sizes, the\u00a0most entertaining races and the strongest betting handle.<\/p>\n

My bet is that Tapeta would come out on top, followed closely by Turf, with Dirt a distant third.<\/p>\n

-Carl Wilson<\/em><\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Aqueduct_Racetrack\"Thoroughbred People writer Victor Ryan recently penned a “What’s Happening” piece on the initiative by the Georgia Horse Racing Coalition to build a brand new racetrack, and bring thoroughbred horse racing to the state. It is always uplifting to hear of a plan to build a new racetrack, and Thoroughbred People sincerely hopes it comes off for Georgia. What we also hope is that as a new track with a “21st century race track design”, it is indeed built differently to current tracks, and that a golden opportunity is capitalized on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editors-blog","category-whats-happening","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9724\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}