Horse Racing Fantasy Community

Up until the late 20th century, all racing in the U.S. was performed on either the turf or the dirt. That changed in 1988 when Remington Park in Oklahoma City opened using an artificial track surface called Equitrack. This surface was comprised mainly of grains of sand coated with wax, and was presumed to be a safer surface than dirt for horses to race on. Unfortunately, while it proved safe, it also proved too costly to maintain, and in 1991 Remington switched back to a conventional dirt surface. However, this proved a harbinger of things to come, and since then many artificial surfaces have been developed and subsequently installed at American tracks.

The first post-Remington installation of a synthetic surface was at Kentucky’s Turfway Park in 2005. Turfway installed Polytrack, which is a blend of fibers, recycled rubber and silica sand covered with a wax coating. Subsequently, synthetic surfaces have been installed in North America at Arlington Park, Keeneland, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, Santa Anita Race Track, Hollywood Park, Golden Gate Fields, Woodbine Racetrack, and Presque Isle Downs. Synthetic surfaces have been a controversial issue in the horse racing industry. The main reasons for installing them are because they handle inclement weather very well, because they are believed to cut down on catastrophic injuries to horses, and because they are believed to help increase handle revenue for racetracks. However, there have been no conclusive studies yet that confirm synthetic surfaces are safer for horses.

Synthetic surfaces have also added a whole new element for handicappers, as no one really knows yet how success on this new surface translates to the dirt or the turf. The way I handled horses in last year's Breeders Cup that had mainly been running on synthetic surfaces was to basically toss them. And this worked out very well, as every single one of the dirt race winners on Breeders Cup day had been running predominantly on the dirt prior.

Many people will tell you that synthetic surfaces play a lot like the turf. This certainly may be true, but I recently did a Masters project for my school that refutes that claim. Another problem is that every synthetic surface is different. Depending on climate, the company putting together the track will use different materials. And because there are different companies in the synthetic track business, their mixtures will be inherently different.

Trying to handicap the Derby this year will present handicappers with a dilemma similar to the Juvenile races in last year's Breeders Cup, as some of the horses will have never run on the dirt. Aside from looking at pedigree, I can't think of a single way to determine how these horses will run on the first Saturday in May. It's very likely that I will simply play against all of the horses trying dirt for the first time.