Santa Anita Throws in the Towel

shields designed for riders at Santa Anita

Santa Anita, gives up on track. They have decided to rip up the wonder track they installed, and put in another wonder track this summer. The tracks have become so controversial that the CHRB called an emergency meeting to discuss it.

We Give Up

Santa Anita has decided to replaced the failing and dangerous synthetic track with a new synthetic track this summer.

The decision has been made. Santa Anita will replace its existing synthetic track with a new one this summer.

Santa Anita President Ron Charles initially had said a decision on whether to replace the track or keep the revamped one now in place wouldn’t be made until after the winter-spring meet ends April 20.

But at the end of an all-day special California Horse Racing Board meeting Wednesday at Santa Anita, Charles made the surprise announcement.

“Our aim is for this track to get us through the next nine weeks of this meet,” Charles said. “Then we’ll examine all possibilities and proceed from there.”

Work on taking out the current track and installing a new one won’t begin until after Hollywood Park’s spring-summer meet because some horses that run at the Inglewood track train at the Arcadia facility, Charles said.

Is it that bad?

The CHRB called an emergency meeting to discuss the synthetic tracks.

Santa Anita’s problems with its synthetic track were the impetus behind the CHRB calling Wednesday’s special meeting, attended by some of the biggest names in horse racing and where nearly 50 people voiced opinions.

Despite outspoken critics, the consensus was synthetic tracks provide a safer surface for horses and jockeys and are generally good for the sport.

I am one who does not like he synthetic tracks. If the dirt tracks are a problem, then make them all turf. It’s better for the horse, it’s better for the environment, and it makes for better racing.

Sadly some are falling into line with the mandating of synthetic.

“We’ve heard some magnificent views here today,” he said. “Few things in the world are perfect, and synthetic tracks are not perfect. But they are better than what we had.”

Wyatt said he initially wasn’t in favor of the California Horse Racing Board mandating that the state’s major thoroughbred tracks convert to synthetic surfaces by the end of 2007. But at Wednesday’s meeting, he said the CHRB mandate couldn’t “have been any more timely.”

Problem is that the track is causing problems the dirt never did. Jockeys are having to wear “blast” shields to ride at Santa Anita OVER the goggles.

Thank God for Bob Baffert:

Baffert said he knew California’s dirt tracks were in need of resurfacing and that he initially “bought into synthetic tracks 100%.” But now, he said, “It’s an experiment, a work in progress,” adding, “Synthetic track manufacturers sold us a bill of goods.”

He also said, “We’re in a crisis or we wouldn’t be having this meeting.”

Baffert recently lost four promising horses — Massive Drama, Maimonides, Vindication and J Be K — because a major client, owner Ahmed Zayat, moved them to Eastern tracks with dirt surfaces. Zayat also shipped 27 horses east from Del Mar this summer over frustrations with the synthetic track there.

I love going to Del Mar, and I fear that DMTC will lose that special quality it once had.

Isn’t the track toxic?

Even more issues with the track.

Of concerns that the synthetic materials might be unhealthy to breathe, CHRB Chairman Richard Shapiro said toxicology studies have shown they are safe.

Some just don’t get it

Sadly some are not taking the issue seriously.

Jeff Blea, a Southern California veterinarian, pointed out that it has been a long tradition for trainers, jockeys, horsemen, horseplayers and others in racing to place blame on tracks for a variety of ills.

“I heard on the radio this morning that Hillary Clinton blamed her loss in Wisconsin on the track there,” he quipped.

Gee how funny is that. Wait, didn’t the tracks get changed BECAUSE they were the problem? Yes, they did. Guess some just don’t want to hear the truth.

Tags: santa anita, horse racing, bob baffert, synthetic track, pro-ride, tapeta footings, polytrack, cushion track