At the end of last summer's Del Mar thoroughbred racing meet, one somber statistic overshadowed all others: 19 horses were dead, victims of catastrophic injuries at the track.
One veteran horseman described the seaside venue that season as "a killing field." But incidents of track fatalities were hardly unique to Del Mar.
Kentucky Derby champion Barbaro's stunning breakdown at last year's Preakness already had brought the dark side of thoroughbred horse racing to the front pages of newspapers around the world.
And with 240 horse deaths on state tracks from 2003 to 2005, the California Horse Racing Board had ordered mandatory state track improvements.
That order required replacement of inconsistent dirt-racing surfaces with more uniform and safer artificial turf. The statewide makeover is nearly complete, and Del Mar is set to open the 2007 racing season today with its new $9-million synthetic track -- but not without lingering controversy.
Substantial questions have been raised by horsemen and other racing executives surveyed by The Times over whether Del Mar's new track is safe enough.
Even before the first furlong of racing at the San Diego County site, flaws were discovered in the newly installed track. Costly repairs were completed last week, but on Monday some trainers canceled workouts after questioning the repaired track's surprising firmness -- a condition that was corrected by Tuesday.
Continuing concerns about the track's ability to hold up under heavy daily use also have prompted Del Mar officials to reduce the number of horses permitted in their stables this season.
Del Mar's dirt track was replaced this year with a synthetic surface developed by Englishman Martin Collins called Polytrack, a 7-inch-deep mixture of silica sand, recycled rubber, fibers and wax covering a blacktop base and drainage system.
Such artificial surfaces have been successfully used in the United Kingdom, but in North America they have encountered criticism and complaints.
In Kentucky and Canada, for example, troubles with other Polytrack-installed surfaces forced races to be canceled and required expensive alterations. In cold weather, the material tended to clump in the horses' hoofs, prompting some trainers to spray them with cooking oil before races.
Those problems were factors leading Hollywood Park and Santa Anita to hire rival manufacturer Cushion Track, according to executives of the two Los Angeles County tracks.
