Del Mar Poly Track........?

Question

can anyone out there who know racing and horses tell me if there is any effect on the horses who run and have the poly fibers fly up in their faces, along with being breathed up into their lungs....is this ok for the horses.....is this poly fiber staying in their breathing tracts....? this can't be safe...Can it.....?

Answer 1

I was looking at synthetic surfaces thinking of how much it would cost to install in my riding arena.  I was checking out the websites and they all agree that research shows that there's no health risk for the horses running on these surfaces from the fibers or chemicals or anything.  Synthetic surfaces have been used in Europe for years and I'm sure they were tested for safety before being installed at these major tracks.  Also, I visited the breeding shed at Winstar farm and they installed polytrack instead of dirt because it doesn't get dusty... it stays solid, it stays on the ground, and it doesn't get on or in things it shouldn't.  The only negative to the synthetic surfaces is that some great dirt horses can't run on it.

Answer 2

The Poly tracks are generally much safer than dirt tracks becauese they're so much easier on the legs.  The rate of catastrophic break down is drastically reduced.

I think the remote possibility of lung problems is far outweighed by the certainty of fewer breakdowns.

The main reason more tracks don't install them is that times are affected, so the record books will be off.  Times tend to be slower, as the surface is softer.