Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

News From The Other Side....
Polytrack affected by Weather

February 14, 2007

As officials and horsemen at Turfway Park work daily to find an optimum Polytrack surface for winter racing, there is growing sentiment the synthetic material is affected by temperature or swings in temperature.

Recently, horsemen have expressed concern over the balling-up of Polytrack, which is a mixture of sand, rubber, carpet fibers, and wax. Though the surface itself is uniform, they said collection of the material in the hoof and shoe could lead horses’ legs to hit the ground unevenly.

From Jan. 1-Feb. 11, there were four catastrophic breakdowns at Turfway--two during racing and two during training hours--said Dr. Nancy Davis, state veterinarian for the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority. Last year in January and February, there were none on Polytrack, but in 2005 on the old dirt surface, there were 13 fatal breakdowns the first two months of the year.

“There’s no question trainers are concerned, and Turfway is communicating with us,” said Marty Maline, executive director of the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association. “The cushion was balling up, and we’re dealing with that problem. With that said, people recognize it’s a much better surface compared to the old dirt track. They want Polytrack to work--even the guys with the strongest concern."

During the winter of 2006, when there were no catastrophic injuries, there were rampant complaints about “kickback” of the material during races. That in part led management to change the surface in August by adding Spandex and cabling material. The surface got much quicker--perhaps too much so--and apparently didn’t play well when unusually cold temperatures set in over Kentucky.

“Without question, the horsemen felt the kickback and slower times were not that big an issue compared with what’s going on with the balling-up in the feet,” Maline said. “It seems to be temperature-controlled. Every day we’re checking the temperature and what maintenance was done to the track. We’re meeting on a daily basis.”

Woodbine, the Canadian racetrack that installed Polytrack in the summer of 2006, experienced problems when the temperature dropped. Conrad Cohen, president of the Ontario HBPA, indicated officials are looking for answers because “there’s nothing in the material that’s freezable.” Horsemen at Woodbine requested to use toe grabs on the surface.

“There are tremendous benefits to the new surface, such as soundness, consistency, drainage, and absorbtion of shock,” Cohen said. “It’s kind of like a new pair of running shoes. But we haven’t had time to totally evaluate it in terms of temperature. A total evaluation of the surface cannot be made in such a short period of time because of inconsistency of climate.

“It did appear at different temperatures to have kickback, and some horsemen had concerns about track consistency.”