Dickinson, Track Experts Talk Surfaces at Symposium

A couple of minutes into taking the stage Dec. 10 at the University of Arizona's Global Symposium on Racing in Tucson, Ariz., Michael Dickinson, president of Tapeta Footings, let his views quickly known.

"The revolution against dirt has already started, but some of you haven't recognized it yet," he told the audience.

With those words the trainer and a proprietor of synthetic surface launched the discussion Continuing the Quest for the Safest Racing Surface: Taking Another Look at Synthetic Surfaces, while seeking to dispel what he believes are misconceptions regarding their shortcomings. Accompanied with a slide show presentation, he listed statistics tracked by The Jockey Club Equine Injury Database, illustrating synthetic surfaces' overall lower rate of fatalities compared to dirt tracks. These numbers, he said, put synthetic tracks relative on par with turf tracks for safety.

Synthetic surfaces, which burst onto North America racetracks in the mid to late 2000s, are back in the conversation again after losing support earlier this decade. This comes after a spike in fatalities at Santa Anita Park this year brought expanded attention to horse welfare.

Santa Anita is exploring adding a synthetic surface or other options such as fibersand or another dirt track, Aidan Butler, acting executive director of California racing operations for The Stronach Group, told the California Horse Racing Board last month. He explained to the CHRB that any decision would be based on detailed analysis.

Santa Anita previously had a synthetic surface—as did all the major tracks in the state—under a mandate from the CHRB in 2007. The ones in Southern California were ultimately removed for a combination of reasons, ranging from drainage issues, to perceived inconsistency, and some public backlash from horseplayers.

A Tapeta surface remains in place at Golden Gate Fields, a track that, like Santa Anita, is owned by The Stronach Group.

Dickinson's presentation was supported from the audience by trainer Mark Casse, who watched from the seating area before coming to a microphone to dispel what he believes are falsehoods.

Casse, who received the Big Sport of Turfdom Award by the Turf Publicists of America Tuesday at the Symposium, runs one of the largest stables in North America with hundreds of horses, having multiple divisions in the eastern half of the U.S., where they largely train on dirt. He also has a vast presence in Canada at Woodbine, which now has a Tapeta surface after beginning with a Polytrack synthetic track.

Estimating that he trains about the same number of horses between dirt and synthetic, he said he has had six horses bow their tendons on dirt this year, compared to two on synthetics. Casse also said the instances in which his horses would bleed in their lungs after breezing is dramatically lower when they work on a synthetic surface.

He also said the Safetrack synthetic surface at the Ocala Training Center in Florida has withstood heat, a common critique of synthetic tracks.

Moderator and radio host Steve Byk questioned Dickinson, taking issue with a slide that characterized why Keeneland removed its synthetic track in 2014. He asked Dickinson to acknowledge the initial problems associated with synthetic tracks. Though Dickinson initially bypassed his question, about 10 minutes later he said, "We all got better." 

"Synthetic tracks have only been around for 15 years. They've evolved a lot over that period of time," panelist Irwin Driedger, former director of thoroughbred racing surfaces for Woodbine, remarked.

Some of the discussion Tuesday afternoon centered on dirt tracks and steps taken to improve their results for safety during an earlier panel called Continuing the Quest for the Safest Racing Surface: The Natural Racing Surface.

Glen Kozak, senior vice president of operations & capital projects for the New York Racing Association, emphasized a key is to base track maintenance decisions on data, avoiding knee-jerk reactions as a track superintendent.

Dan Coon, a partner in Coon and Associates, which designs and manages racetrack surfaces, said one of the challenges of dirt tracks is that they differ with banking, without a clear consensus of a superior grade.

Optimal banking is not known, said Mick Peterson, executive director of Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory, though he recommends "matching your neighbors" to improve consistency.

One of the more engaging parts of the dirt discussion concerned maintenance of a wet racetrack based after a question from Byk. Unlike a synthetic track, which is still rated fast even during times of rain, a dirt track must be managed during rainfall. Options include sealing the track to better allow water to drain, though that comes with the trade-off of eliminating the cushion of dirt that is considered more forgiving to a horse than a compacted surface.

Del Mar preemptively cancelled two days of racing in California last month due to not wishing to race on a wet track, and Santa Anita officials have told the CHRB they will not race or train over sealed racetracks this winter.

"We're going to do everything we can to protect the horse and the rider," Peterson said toward the end of the dirt discussion. "If that takes the changes in the tracks we have, changes in the maintenance, or more labor, then that is what it is going to take."