Report: Gulfstream to Add Tapeta Near Outer Turf Course

Gulfstream Park is finalizing plans to install a Tapeta surface on what is now the outer section of its turf course, according to a report in Daily Racing Form. The new surface would give the South Florida track options to race on dirt, turf, and now synthetic.

Bill Badgett, executive director of Florida racing operations for The Stronach Group, which owns Gulfstream, told DRF that the Tapeta track is to help maintain field sizes when races have to be taken off the grass due to rainy weather. 

"We can also move regularly scheduled races on the dirt to the Tapeta if the main track gets too sloppy, we can use it in the morning for training, and perhaps even write some of the cheaper claiming races that normally would be run on the turf for the Tapeta instead," Badgett told DRF. "That would help keep the turf course pristine for the better horses, the allowance races, and the stakes."

Aidan Butler, chief operating officer of 1/ST RACING, a division of TSG, did not immediately return a call from BloodHorse seeking further details.

According to Badgett, it will take approximately 60 days to install the Tapeta surface once the outside portion of the turf course is removed.

“We’re still trying to figure out all the logistics and what effect the construction might have on the summer meet,” Badgett added. “So at the moment we have no time frame for when the project will begin or be completed.”