Keeneland to replace Polytrack with dirt

Despite reducing horse-racing fatalities, Keeneland Race Course will replace its rubberized Polytrack with dirt — joining a growing number of major tracks that have abandoned the once-popular synthetic surface.

Installed at Keeneland in 2006, the mix of rubber, sand, fiber and wax atop a porous asphalt-like hard surface promised safer racing, better drainage and minimal maintenance.

While Keeneland officials say Polytrack was a success — especially in its safety record — fewer and fewer tracks are using synthetic surfaces. That put Keeneland at risk of becoming a less desirable racing destination, because owners wouldn't want to race on a surface so different than those in use for Triple Crown and Breeders Cup races.

So, the track will instead replace the synthetic surface following the Spring Meet that begins Friday. Keeneland is not disclosing the cost.

"We had hoped that the synthetic surface would become the prevalent and predominant racing surface in America and, for whatever reasons, it just hasn't," Keeneland President and Chief Executive Officer Bill Thomason said. "... in order for us to continue attracting the quality of horse at the highest level of racing — which is what's expected of Keeneland — we have decided to change back."

The track joins the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club near San Diego in recently announcing a return to dirt.

By next year, only five major North American tracks will have a synthetic surfaces: Turfway Park in Florence, Golden Gate Fields near San Francisco, Woodbine near Toronto, Presque Isle in Pennsylvania and Arlington International Racecourse, the Chicago-area track owned by Louisville-based Churchill Downs Inc. Santa Anita Park — the current home of the Breeders' Cup — also returned to dirt previously, and Hollywood Park closed.

Future unfulfilled

At one point, synthetic surfaces seemed to poised to take over horse-racing, with the California racing board requiring synthetics at its major tracks — a requirement it has since relaxed.

The momentum was such that Tom Meeker, then the retiring president of Churchill Downs Inc., suggested the Kentucky Derby might one day be run on a synthetic surface because "I just think it'll be the standard in the industry."

But a combination of costs and factors prevented that from happening — and synthetic surfaces have rapidly lost momentum. And the quality of fields suffered as a result, Thomason said.

"... knowing what we wanted to achieve here for the quality of racing we were providing for horses heading into Triple Crown races and into the Breeders' Cup, they just weren't coming here," he said.

Most notably, Keeneland's signature Kentucky Derby prep race, the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, has suffered in stature in the Polytrack era. No Blue Grass winner has won the Derby since Strike the Gold in 1991.

Keeneland racing director Rogers Beasley said the decision went beyond one race.

"I think there are other races that didn't draw quite the fields we had before (Polytrack), and we want to maintain the highest quality of racing at Keeneland, along with the highest quality of safety," Beasley said.

The switch to dirt coincides with an effort by Keeneland to host the 2015 Breeders' Cup.

Better safety record

Keeneland's change comes despite a remarkable safety record for Polytrack — with horse fatality rates well below the national standard, according to The Jockey Club's Equine Injury Database.

Thomason said Keeneland will have the "same fervor" for a safe dirt surface that it did for Polytrack, and reviewed the surfaces at Churchill Downs, Saratoga Race Course, Belmont Park and Fair Grounds in consultation with surfaces expert Mick Peterson from the University of Maine.

"We have found the surface that we think best fits us and our climate," Thomason said

While the safety record of synthetic surfaces was strong, not all of its other claims proved true.

Horsemen have complained that they saw an increase in other non-fatal injuries. Maintenance of the tracks — billed as one of its greatest cost saving features — proved to be more complicated than thought and varied greatly by climate.

Beasley said Polytrack has been proven effective for wintertime racing and helps Turfway avoid freeze-thaw cancellations on its former dirt surface.

But Polytrack at Turfway — which is in the midst of a multi-year upgrade — decomposed over time, balled up in horses' hooves and had ice freeze within the surface.

Still, Turfway General Manager Chip Bach said there are no plans to return to dirt.

"For the temperatures we run in (during the winter) and for the safety record we've seen as a result of Polytrack ... we have no inclination to go to dirt," he said.

A good change

Despite the change, Keeneland officials said the industry has improved because of synthetic surfaces, forcing many dirt tracks to get more serious about conditions and upkeep.

"Dirt surfaces across America have become better and become safer because people know now they've got a standard now that they're trying to achieve," Thomason said.

The new track will have a slope — something it didn't have with Polytrack — and will be slightly higher than the Polytrack. But the increase won't force the track to adjust the height of safety rails.

Keeneland plans to keep the macadam constructed for Polytrack and build the dirt surface of sand, silt and clay.

The stable area will close in large part in mid-May for construction, which is to be done in August. Keeneland's training track will remain open and will continue to have Polytrack.

Reporter Gregory A. Hall can be reached at (502) 582-4087. Follow him on Twitter at @gregoryahall.