There are still real concerns about synthetic tracks
HORSE RACING
Del Mar's surface was faster this season, and deaths have decreased, but injuries were of a different nature.
DEL MAR -- Two years after the state required major thoroughbred racetracks to install synthetic surfaces, the Southern California racing industry is still wrestling with the costs and benefits of the investment.
It was here two summers ago where the allure of horses running at the famed seaside track was spoiled by the fatal breakdowns of 19 animals, clinching a cry for action after the statewide deaths of 240 horses between 2003 and 2005.
Del Mar's new Polytrack installed last year cut down on fatalities, but also led to much slower racing, frustrating horsemen and troubling track executives desperate to please the lifeblood of the sport, handicappers.
Management's solution this summer was to water down the racing surface to create a firmer track, which resulted in faster racing. But the conditions created a new issue: an apparent increase in non-fatal injuries.
Just two weeks into the Del Mar season, which concluded Wednesday, concerned trainers met with track executives to present survey results showing that 69 horses had already suffered season- or career-ending injuries.
Since then, track officials and some owners and trainers say they have reached a tenuous peace regarding the new surface.
Racing and training deaths at Del Mar have been reduced from the 2006 carnage to six in 2007, and eight this season.
Joe Harper, Del Mar's president, also pointed to statistics gathered by the Southern California Equine Foundation showing 389 X-rays of sore or injured horses required this season, compared with 456 in 2005 and 439 in 2006. Some 2,400 horses train or race at Del Mar.
And eight speed records were set this summer.
"This has been a very successful meet, and I can't see this situation going anywhere but getting better," Harper said Wednesday. "There's been a significant reduction of injuries."
Trainer Gary Sherlock said that the consensus was that something needed to be done, but by the end of the meeting, "the track was pretty good."
Still, not everyone is sold on synthetics.
Trainer John Shirreffs, whose horses Zenyatta and Madeo captured combined purses of more than $650,000 by winning the Clement L. Hirsch Handicap and Del Mar Derby, respectively, says synthetics are "too hard" on young horses.
He complains the weather-sensitive tracks feature an unpredictable maintenance schedule that causes headaches for trainers trying to script a race plan.
