Truth About Synthetic Surfaces
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The (ReAL) TRuTh AbouT SynTheTic SuRfAceS by BILL FINLEY WinTeR 2010 SPONSORED BY ichard Shapiro doesn’t have long history. According to Califor- trainers, the Thoroughbred owners, Rmuch of anything to do with nia Horse Racing Board records, 14 every track—was in support of this. horse racing these days, something horses died that meet as the result of Every board member but one was in he never imagined possible. His training or racing accidents. Shapiro full support of this and that member grandparents owned three-time believed he had found a solution, [Jerry Moss] abstained. We went into Hollywood Gold Cup winner Na- a way to end the destruction of so this with high hopes and felt maybe we tive Diver, and he still remembers many horses. It was a new racing sur- could stem the increasing number of the thrill he felt every time he’d go face, one that had received nothing fatalities that were occurring.” to the track to watch the great geld- but favorable reviews among Europe- Shapiro wasn’t wrong. ing run. He went to college, ran a an horsemen and racetrack officials, As loud and as angry as the critics harness track, owned horses him- and had a proven record of success may be, the facts are not on the side self and built a successful real estate at Turfway Park, where fatal injuries of the legions of synthetic surface hat- business. In 2005, he accepted the had become nearly non-existent and ers who insist the switch to Polytrack, position as the chairman of the Cal- Cushion Track, Tapeta and Pro-Ride ifornia Horse Racing Board, bring- is well on its way to destroying the ing with him a passion and enthu- “I’m labeled the post- sport. While synthetic surfaces are far siasm for the job and a clear goal: less than perfect and have not been he wanted to make California horse er boy for synthetic the panacea that many had hoped racing every bit as great as it once they would be, they have fulfilled their was. surfaces. I get quite a most important promise, to reduce the These days, his work hours are number of horses that die on the race- spent in his office in Calabasas, Cal- bit of hate mail and track. ifornia, where he runs Winco Asset Though the compilation of data con- Management. He resigned from the hate e-mail.” cerning fatalities on all forms of rac- CHRB position Dec. 16, 2008, be- ing surfaces is still a work in progress, fore his term had expired. He rarely - Richard Shapiro every report done so far on synthetic goes to the racetrack. It’s not that surfaces comes to the same conclusion: Richard Shapiro doesn’t like horse weather-related cancellations had be- when it comes to fatal injuries, syn- racing. It’s that horse racing doesn’t come a thing of the past. thetic surfaces are considerably safer like Richard Shapiro. “In May of 2006, the issue of syn- than conventional dirt racetracks. His crime? He’s the guy who thetic tracks came up for a vote at the According to a report released by forced synthetic racing surfaces on board level,” Shapiro said. “Every or- Dr. Rick Arthur, the California Horse California racing. ganization—the Jockeys’ Guild, the Racing Board’s equine medical direc- “I’m labeled the poster boy for synthetic surfaces,” Shapiro said. “I get quite a bit of hate mail and hate e-mail.” To prove it, he pulls out a folder filled with letters and e-mails he has received. It is large and jammed with papers. “One guy said I should be hung from the Seabiscuit statue at Santa Anita,” Shapiro said. In 2006, Shapiro ordered that all major California racetracks switch to synthetic surfaces by the end of the following year. He did so in the midst of a turbulent time in racing, nationally and in California. Bar- baro’s breakdown in the Preakness stunned and angered an entire na- PHOTO: HORSEPHOTOS tion. The 2006 Del Mar meet was Under Richard Shapiro’s chairmanship, the CHRB adopted a synthetic surface man- among the deadliest in the track’s date for all major horse racing tracks in California. WinTeR 2010 TDN Magazine, Winter 2010 2 tor, the state’s racing industry was five Polytrack tracks, there were 57 particularly safe meet at Turfway, averaging 3.09 fatal breakdowns per combined fatalities. (The statistics do where no horses broke down dur- 1,000 starters on dirt racetracks in not include catastrophic breakdowns ing the 2006 winter/spring season, the years prior to the installation occurring during training hours). At but Polytrack continues to outper- of synthetic tracks. Arthur derived form dirt when it comes to safety. In those figures from a study of 80,492 2008, the same five meets produced races run at Bay Meadows, Golden “Without 36 catastrophic breakdowns over Gate Fields, Hollywood Park, Del the synthetic track, 21 fewer than Mar and Santa Anita over 29 racing a doubt, the combined figure for the final meets that preceded the switch to dirt meets. synthetic tracks. synthetic The industry is waiting for what In 52,266 races run over synthetic should be the most comprehensive SPONSORED BY surfaces since the Shapiro-ordered tracks are report yet on track surfaces and safe- mandate went into effect, the num- safer than ty. The Jockey Club is in the midst of ber of fatalities has fallen to 1.68 per compiling an exhaustive amount of 1,000 starters. That’s a 45.6- percent dirt tracks.” data relating to injuries and break- decrease. downs. No date has yet been issued A report done by Martin Collins -Michael Dickinson concerning when the report will be Surfaces and Footing, the company released, and The Jockey Club will that manufactures and sells Poly- the comparable meets that took place not release any information on the track, which is in use at Keeneland, after the installation of Polytrack, the study until it is complete. However, Turfway, Woodbine, Del Mar and number of fatalities dropped to 20, a a source that has seen much of The Arlington, was even more favor- 65-percent decrease. Jockey Club data compiled so far able. At the final dirt meets at the Those numbers were bolstered by a said the final report would shine a favorable light on synthetic tracks. A 13-month pilot program con- ducted earlier by The Jockey Club showed that the rate of fatal injuries on synthetic tracks was 27.59 per- cent less than it was on dirt surfaces. “Without a doubt, synthetic tracks are safer than dirt tracks,” said Mi- chael Dickinson, the former trainer who now manufactures and sells the synthetic surface Tapeta. “There have been some bumps in the road with synthetic surfaces in the USA, and it has been a learning experience for manufacturers, track superinten- dents and trainers, but people have already had 100 years to perfect dirt tracks and have failed miserably. People are forgetting the huge pub- lic outcry after several high-profile fatalities in big races. We have 58 jockeys under permanent disabil- ity and an estimated 1,000 horse fatalities annually. Those numbers are unacceptable for the public and most decent people.” The numbers would seem to speak for themselves, but they haven’t qui- PHOTO: HORSEPHOTOS eted or swayed the anti-synthetic Michael Dickinson, former trainer, who now manufactures and sells the synthetic forces or made much of an impact surface Tapeta, inspects the Tapeta surface at Al Quoz in Dubai. 3 TDN Magazine, Winter 2010 TDN Magazine, Winter 2010 4 SPONSORED BY on the overall consciousness of the to wager on races horse racing industry. The simple over these quirky fact is that a lot of people hate syn- surfaces. The reality “I know people thetic tracks. is something en- That includes a lot of gamblers, tirely different. who make a living particularly big bettors. Synthetic Comparing pre- surface racing is definitely differ- synthetic era and by gambling and ent than dirt racing. It doesn’t favor synthetic era han- speed horses, the fields are more dle figures is often those guys don’t bunched up at the finish and some the ultimate ap- horses won’t run their best over ples-to-oranges ex- trust Polytrack.” the surface. It’s different, and that’s ercise. Some tracks something some players don’t like. switched surfaces - gambler Eric Adelson “I know people who make a living in the middle of the gambling and those guys don’t trust year and one, Woodbine, changed over Arlington increased 9.2 percent Polytrack,” said Kentucky-based in the middle of a meet. Santa Anita from 2006 to 2007. According to gambler Eric Adelson. “They’d rath- went from dirt to Cushion Track, figures supplied by the Illinois Rac- er bet a dirt race at Penn National Cushion Track to Pro-Ride, and had ing Board, in 2009, Arlington aver- than bet a race at Keeneland. There to cancel 11 days of racing when the aged $787,592 more in handle per are guys who would bet $20,000 a Cushion Track became unusable. Turf day than it did in 2006, when the day at Keeneland when they ran on races are included in meet handle fig- track last had a dirt surface. PHOTO: HORSEPHOTOS At Keeneland, 2005 was the last year that both meets were run over a dirt surface. Handle improved dra- matically in both 2006 and 2007. The average daily handle for the 2007 spring meet on Polytrack was $2,480,743 more than it was for the 2005 spring meet run over dirt.