Race Pros Hope Synthetic Tracks Save Horses

Dec. 23, 2006 — -- John Burke trains some of the most expensive race horses in the world -- but recently was willing to allow his million-dollar mounts on a snow-covered track in Lexington, Ky.

"You're not going to find a prettier sight than this," he said as four of his race horses galloped by. "This is the reason we get out of bed at 4:30 everyday, right here."

Normally, he wouldn't dare risk injury by exposing his horses to such snowy conditions. But at Keeneland Racetrack, after 70 years racing on dirt, they've switched to a new synthetic surface.

"It's kind and it's consistent, " he said. "And I think the horses are happy on it."

Dirt tracks freeze in such weather. But even in the best of conditions they can be dangerously hard and uneven.

It was on a dirt track that one of Josephine Abercrombie's champion thoroughbreds broke down.

"It broke my heart," she said. "I have never been so upset in my whole life, and they had to put her down right there on the track. It was just horrifying."

Even non-racing fans were horrified watching Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro break his leg at the Preakness in May.

"Look, we had to do something," said Maryjean Wall, who covers horse racing for the Lexington Herald Leader. "Horses were breaking their legs at an increased pace. And nobody likes for this to happen. I've sat there crying while writing stories after famous horses have broken their legs right in front of me."

This week for the first time, the public saw Barbaro without a cast and learned he may soon be leaving the hospital.

But some believe Barbaro would have been spared his near-fatal injury had he been racing on an artificial surface.

"Barbaro's injury was a torque fracture, where he put his leg down wrong and then swiveled on it, and the dirt held it," said John Veitch, who trained the champion Aladar. "This Polytrack would not. This Polytrack would give."

Polytrack, one of three competing brands, is a mixture of sand, recycled rubber and synthetic fibers, all coated in wax.

That shock-absorbing surface has made racing at Kentucky's Turfway Park much safer. Turfway was the first track in North America to switch from dirt to a synthetic surface and the difference has been astounding. The year before the switch, 24 horses suffered catastrophic injuries on the old dirt track. In the year since, only three have.

A safer surface is also better for business. With less wear and tear on the horses, owners can race them more often. And no matter how bad the weather, tracks rarely close.

However, race times are slower and bettors are having a hard time predicting performance on the new surface.

"There is no handicapping no more. You just pick numbers," said bettor Merrill Strogins.

But veteran track announcer and handicapper Mike Battaglia is betting on the future of artificial surfaces.

"To me, I don't care what the handicappers say," he said. "I don't care what the gamblers say. It's safer. Get used to it guys. That's what I tell them."

At $6 million to $8 million per track, it is much more expensive than dirt.

"Compared with a horse, which might have cost $9 million, and it goes out onto a track and breaks its leg, this is a cheap surface," said Martin Collins, who invented Polytrack and became a financial partner with Keeneland.

Last week, Arlington Park outside Chicago began installing an artificial track, and all California tracks must do so by the end of next year.

For Burke, this revolution in racing is long overdue.

"If a horse could talk, he'd say, 'Hey, thanks,'" he said. "And, 'What took you so long?'"