Track surface

The track surface of a horse racing track refers to the material of which the track is made. There are three types of track surfaces used in modern horse racing.^[1] These are:

• Turf, the most common track surface in Europe
• Dirt, the most common track surface in the US
• Artificial or Synthetic, the collective term for a number of proprietary man-made surfaces in use at a number of locations around the world.

The style of racing differs between surfaces, with dirt races tending to be faster than those on turf or artificial surfaces.^[2] Anecdotally, dirt racing is the more reliable, and thus more popular, medium for betting purposes.^[1] Weather conditions affect the speed of the different surfaces too, and grading systems have been developed to indicate the track condition (known as the "going" in the UK and Ireland).

Synthetic surfaces

Synthetic surfaces allow racing to take place in bad weather conditions, when it may otherwise be cancelled, and for this reason are sometimes referred to as All Weather surfaces. Manufacturers of synthetic racetrack surface materials promote the fact that synthetic tracks have drainage attributes that are better than natural surfaces. There is also some evidence to suggest that synthetic surfaces are safest in terms of equine welfare.^[3]

The first synthetic surface used for thoroughbred racing was Tropical Park's Tartan turf, a synthetic surface similar to Astroturf installed in 1966. Tartan turf was never a success with horsemen.^[4]

The first synthetic surface to replace dirt in the United States was installed at The Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Washington, PA in 1963. This surface, called Tartan, was found to be unsatisfactory and removed and replaced with a traditional limestone surface in 1975.

Name	Manufacturer	Country	Description	Installations
Cushion Track	Equestrian Surfaces		Sand, synthetic fibers, elastic fiber, and granulated rubber coated with wax. The footing is approximately nine inches deep, followed by a geotextile membrane.[5]	Santa Anita Park (removed) Hollywood Park (shut down) Courbold Park, Sunshine Coast Toowoomba, Queensland^[A] Klampenborg, Denmark Taby Galopp, Sweden
Fibresand	Mansfield Sand Company		Sand particles and polypropylene fibres.[6]	Southwell[7]
Polytrack	Martin Collins Enterprises		A mixture of silica sand, recycled synthetic fibers (carpet & spandex) and recycled rubber/pvc. In cold climates, the mixture may also include jelly cable (plastic insulation from copper phone wire). The entire mixture is coated with wax.	Lingfield Park Kempton Park Chelmsford City Dundalk Chantilly Marseille-Vivaux Pau (CLOPF) Kranji, Mijas(CLOPF) Veliefendi Turfway Park Arlington Park Del Mar Racetrack (replaced) Keeneland Race Course (replaced) Pakenham Racecourse, VIC Cagnes Sur Mer Racecourse Deauville-Touques Racecourse Gokdere & Bedew Racecourses in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan Fairview Racecourse Greyville, Durban South Africa
Pro-Ride	Pro-Ride Racing Australia Pty Ltd		6 inches of footing (sand, nylon fibres, Spandex fibres coated in a polymeric binder) on top of a 4 inch IMC layer (sand & nylon fibres) on top of a drainage system.[8]	Flemington Santa Anita (removed) Rosehill Racecourse, NSW Warwick Farm Racecourse, NSW[9]
Tapeta	Michael Dickinson, Inc.		Sand, fibre, rubber and wax makes up the top 4-7 inches of the racing surface, installed on top of either porous asphalt or a geotextile membrane.[10]	Spreyton Golden Gate Fields Albany, California Berkeley, CA Presque Isle Downs Wolverhampton Newcastle Woodbine
Visco-Ride			Sand and fibre coated in wax	Flemington, Victoria (removed) Cranbourne Racecourse, Victoria (removed) Warwick Farm Racecourse, New South Wales (removed)
RashitTrack	CJSC HC Visteks		A mixture of silica sand, recycled synthetic fibers (carpet & spandex) and chopped geotextile. The surface keeps the exploitation characteristics in a wide temperature range (from -40 up to +65 оС). The entire mixture is coated with wax.[11]	Akbuzat Hippodrome, Ufa international sport-horses hippodrome, Kazan

1. ^↑Toowoomba has converted 1/2 the synthetic track into turf and have the all weather track as a training track

External links

• http://www.equestriansurfaces.co.uk/
• http://www.martincollins.com/
• http://www.prorideracing.com
• http://www.tapetafootings.com/
• http://www.viscoride.com.au/
• http://www.euviteks.ru/ and http://www.rashittrack.com/

See also

• Track condition

References

1. Lesovoy, Amber (16 March 2009). "Why is dirt the best track surface for horse racing?". SportingLife:360. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
2. Allin, Jane (November 2011). "Horse Racing Ground Matters: Part 3". Horsefund. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
3. West, Christy (23 March 2009). "Synthetic surfaces vs dirt and turf". The Bloodhorse. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
4. Short history of Tropical Park by Hale, Ron (1997) (retrieved May 2, 2008 from about.com)
5. http://www.equestriansurfaces.co.uk/surfaces/cushion-track-premier.html
6. http://www.mansfield-sand.co.uk/products/equestrian/fibresand/
7. "natural turf pitch, fibre-reinforced rootzone". Mansfield-sand.co.uk. 2010-06-22. Retrieved 2012-12-02.
8. http://www.prorideracing.com/pro-ride-product-details Unique 2-Phase cushioning & wax-free polymeric binder
9. http://www.prorideracing.com/tracks/
10. http://www.tapetafootings.com/system/system.html
11. http://allweatherequestriansurface.com/ and http://rashittrack.com/