July 19th, 2011
For complete article, visit: http://www.10news.com/news/28590467/detail.html.
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.
July 14th, 2011
For complete article, visit: http://www.paulickreport.com/features/the-breeders-cup-forum/the-breeders-cup-forum-down-at-old-del-mar/
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)
July 11th, 2011
For complete article, visit: http://www.racehorsewatchdog.com/arlington-re-accredited-on-safety-integrity/
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.
July 11th, 2011
For complete article, visit: http://www.paulickreport.com/index.php/news/the-biz/racing-surfaces-committee-publishes-scientific-white-paper/.
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.”
June 6th, 2011
(For complete article, visit: http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/triplecrown2011/columns/story?columnist=plonk_jeremy&id=6623939)
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.
