SAN DIEGO — Opening Day for the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club is this Wednesday, and for the fifth straight year the horses will be racing on the controversial synthetic track — a mixture engineered to protect the horses from catastrophic injuries.

According to the Thoroughbred Club, the engineered track is working. It only lost five horses during last year’s meet during training and the afternoon races.

“So the numbers were greatly reduced compared to where we were with the dirt track,” said Del Mar Thoroughbred Club Executive Vice President Tom Robbins.

In contrast, the Santa Anita track returned to the traditional dirt track this year with worse results. In 2010, only two horses were euthanized after injuring themselves on the synthetic track. Twelve horses had to be put down this year after Santa Anita went back to the dirt.

By: Ray Paulick

This will be year five of Polytrack.  Are you satisfied that it’s delivered as promised?  Why or why not?

The debate over racing surfaces is obviously a hotly contested one.  From our standpoint the single biggest issue is safety, and it’s hard to argue with the positive results in this regard since we’ve had Polytrack.  Simply, our fatalities and injuries are way down.  Has it been perfect?  I’ll be the first to admit, no.  However, I have all the confidence in the world in track superintendent, Richard Tedesco.

(Interview with Joe Harper, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club CEO)

Arlington Park has become the fourth racetrack to earn re-accreditation from the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s Safety and Integrity Alliance. The re-accreditation followed a complete review of all racing operations at the Arlington Heights, Ill., facility. Arlington received its initial Alliance accreditation in August 2009. All accreditations and re-accreditations carry an effective period of two years.

“Safety is of paramount importance to everyone here at Arlington Park, and we are proud to be recognized for several industry-wide best practices,” said Tony Petrillo, general manager of Arlington Park.

By: Paulick Report Staff

Press Release:

The Racing Surfaces Committee that was formed at the inaugural Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit in 2006 has published a 34-page “Racing Surfaces White Paper” that details the current state ofknowledge pertaining to training and racing surfaces.

The document, drafted as a collection of published scientific papers and data, was co-authored by Dr. Mick Peterson (University of Maine), Dr. C. Wayne McIlwraith (Colorado State University), Dr. Lars Roepstorff (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences), Dr. Jeffrey J. Thomason (University of Guelph) and Christie Mahaffey (University of Maine).

It is being distributed today to participants at the 10th Annual Track Superintendents’ Field Day Conference (June 14-16), hosted by Parx Racing in Bensalem, Penn. The document is also available at Grayson Jockey Club white paper

“The fundamental issue behind doing this white paper was the fact that there has been limited academic study of racetracks,” Peterson said. “Veterinarians, engineers and soil scientists have all studied racingsurfaces but it has been a modest body of study. This paper will tell researchers and scientists what we don’t know and confirm once again that actions taken to improve safety should be based on sound science and published research.”

By: Jeremy Plonk

As I’ve always maintained, truly great horses win on any surface. Give me Secretariat, John Henry or Cigar, and I’ll show you horses who would have won on Polytrack or peanut butter and jelly. Congrats to ANIMAL KINGDOM for quieting the surface skeptics for at least a few weeks while smearing back all the misleading perceptions.

By: Melissa Hoppert

“I think what happened was everybody kind of jumped on the bandwagon so quickly with synthetics that we kind of went from one extreme to the other. It almost happened too quickly before we really got down to the nitty gritty of finding out which ones would handle different climates better. And I think it’s such a shame that it’s given synthetics a bad name because in my mind, there’s no doubt that ultimately synthetic surfaces are safer. And I think the naysayers have been proven wrong in California.” – Graham Motion

Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore has been re-accredited by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s Safety and Integrity Alliance in advance of Saturday’s Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown. Pimlico is the third track to be re-accredited by the alliance this year, following Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky. and Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

By: Jeff Barker

“Our industry has always placed a high value on health and safety,” said Alex Waldrop, president and CEO of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, an industry group. “But the high-profile injuries of Barbaro in 2006 and Eight Belles in 2008 provided a catalyst for unprecedented industry cooperation and urgency on these fronts.”

Derby winner reinforces Spiral Stakes and Polytrack surfaces

By: Joe Reedy

Turfway switched to the Polytrack synthetic surface in 2005, and since then there has been a bias about horses making the adjustment to dirt. Horses have won on Polytrack as 2-year olds and switched to dirt for Derby prep races but Animal Kingdom became the first horse to win the Derby on his first start on dirt.

Now that a horse has done it, the question is if others will follow, especially when next year’s Spiral Stakes is run.

“It takes a trainer with the courage and confidence to do it. Horses take to the course no matter what the surface and this dispels that,” [Richard] Elliston said.

By: Marty McGee

“Animal Kingdom’s effortless win in the Derby confirms what we have believed from the beginning: Good horses, well trained, will take their winning form from Polytrack to dirt,” said [Bob] Elliston. “This win serves as a reminder that the Spiral remains a major Derby prep.”