Synthetic surfaces gain grip at major horse racing tracks
DIRT flying as horses race around the track. Fans cheering as their favorite thunders down the stretch, hooves pounding toward the finish line.
That sight and sound has disappeared from some North American racetracks that have replaced traditional dirt with a synthetic surface made of wax-coated sand, fibers and recycled rubber.
It mutes hoofbeats and limits whatever kickback might fly in the faces of trailing horses.
From owners to trainers to jockeys to bettors, the debate is vigorous on whether synthetic surfaces are a potential answer to creating safer training and racing conditions.
The deaths of 12 horses at Churchill Downs, including two on Kentucky Derby day, in the last month have reignited public outcry about what horse racing is doing to prevent catastrophic injuries.
Investigations of the Churchill deaths are underway, including necropsies on the horses and probes of the track’s dirt surface.
Synthetic surfaces, known by such trademarked names as Tapeta and Polytrack, are gaining traction in some major racing locales.
Gulfstream Park in Florida added Tapeta in 2021 to go with its dirt and grass courses. Woodbine near Toronto switched from dirt to Polytrack and then to Tapeta in 2016.
In 2015, Turfway Park near Cincinnati was the first track in North America to install Polytrack and five years later replaced it with Tapeta. Tiny Presque Isle Downs near Erie, Pennsylvania, has a Tapeta track.
Statistics from The Jockey Club’s Equine Injury Database show the surface with the fewest deaths per 1,000 horses is synthetic.
From 2009-2022, there were 534 fatalities on synthetic from 482,169 starts or 1.11 per 1,000 starts. During that same period, there were 6,036 fatalities on dirt from 3,242,505 starts or 1.86 per 1,000 starts. And on grass, there were 1,032 fatalities from 728,445 starts or 1.41 per 1,000 starts.
The overall rate of fatal injury in 2022 was 1.25 deaths per 1,000 starts, down from 1.39 the year before. It’s the fourth straight year the rate has decreased, according to the EID, and the first time the rate has been below 1.3 deaths per 1,000 since the database began in 2009.
“In my opinion, synthetic is safer,” said veteran trainer Mark Casse, who estimates he starts about 1,200 horses a year on dirt, grass and synthetic in the US and Canada.
It hasn’t taken hold everywhere, however.
California racing officials mandated a switch from dirt to synthetics in 2007. Santa Anita, nowdefunct Hollywood Park and Del Mar north of San Diego spent millions tearing out their dirt tracks in what proved to be a failed experiment.
Golden Gate Fields in the San Francisco Bay area is the only California track still racing on synthetic. Eight horses have died at that track this year—three involved musculoskeletal issues; the others had varied reasons.
“If they didn’t have so many issues early on in California, we’d all probably be racing on synthetic tracks,” said Casse, citing the initial steep learning curve involved in installing and maintaining such surfaces.