Varieties In Synthetic Race Tracks
Refined Surfaces Springing Up to Fight Bad Weather
Synthetic surfaces for the state's main tracks have been mandated in California. Safetrack, Polytrack, Cushion Track, and Pro-Ride are springing up to fight bad weather.
These days we have Polytrack, Cushion Track, Safetrack, Tapeta,and Pro-Ride springing up all over to contest rainy days at Thoroughbred race tracks. Golden Gate Fields in San Francisco went through its first re-surfacing shortly after World War II. Last season, a synthetic called Tapeta was installed.
Golden Gate Fields enjoyed a very brief inaugural opening in 1941 with a brisk attendance and a sticky quagmire for a track that couldn't drain properly from an exceptionally rainy winter season. Slogging times of 1:20-2/5, 1:17-3/5, and 1:19-3/5 for six furlongs were recorded. The meeting was doomed.
Muddy, unhappy jockeys getting turtle times out of their horses and sliding to the wire rather than running to it, quit the track. The facility closed its gates.
In 1941, the facility re-opened with a stout crowd of 30,316 on hand to take a wait-and-see look at the race track's new silt and sandy loam covering, which under the hands of new ownership, had replaced the muddy clay.
The next ten years of racing at Golden Gate Fields produced 10 world records from such distinguished greats as Citation, Noor, Prevaricator, Shannon II, Fair Truckle, Count Speed, and Bolero. Later, John Henry, Silky Sullivan, and Determine brought the fans to the track.
Last November, Tribesman raced six furlongs in 1:08-3/4 on the track's latest surface, Tapeta, the brainchild of trainer and developer Michael Dickinson. Tapeta is a combination of sand, wax, and fibers.
More of the same in synthetic, all-weather surfaces is being tested and installed around the country. California has mandated its main tracks to adapt synthetics to its main tracks, in the interests of keeping the track open and to benefit the safety of its Thoroughbreds and their riders.
Santa Anita chose Cushion Track, but officials continue to fight problems with rain water that won't properly drain from the surface. The asphalt base of the Cushion Track is being clogged by the fine sand and wax mixture when it gets excessively wet from rain. A polymetric binder from Pro-Ride Racing of Australia was applied to stop the bleeding.
Developer Ian Pearse said the binder is not actually a wax, which, like a candle, can start as a solid and melt down to a liquid. The Pro-Ride synthetic has elasticity, like putty. Hotter temperatures won't turn it into liquid.
In February, Safetrack surface hosted the OBS races at Ocala, FL. The Del Mar track in California re-surfaced with Polytrack, and Hollywood Park chose Cushion Track.
