Who knows what they mean by a synthetis track?

Question

While watching 1 of the Breeders Cup races , they said the track was synthetic, what does that mean?

Answer 1

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Answer 2

These are the web pages of a couple of companies that make synthetic track surfaces:

http://www.polytrack.com/

http://www.tapetafootings.com/

Basically, a synthetic track surface is an asphalt base covered with layers of material consisting of wax-coated or polymer-coated sand, a variety of fiber and particulate matter, and other proprietary materials.  This replaces the dirt subsurface and surface of a normal track.

Each company that manufactures a synthetic surfaces has a slightly different composition of materials.  All are proprietary (i.e., patented) and all are just a little bit different.

The selling point of synthetic track surfaces is that they are safer for horses and riders (fewer catastrophic breakdowns), more consistant in all kinds of weather (play the same whether it's wet or dry, hot or cold) and are low-maintenance (do not require the grooming and watering that normal dirt tracks require).

Answer 3

its a track not made up mostly of natural dirt and sand like the tracks have been for decades...its a surface that was developed overseas (europe) so horses could train on an all weather surface instead of tearing up wet grass tracks and so horses could train to also come over (to the US, Japan, Dubai or where ever else big races are run...or to run horses in the american Triple Crown Races) and run on more conventional tracks overseas... the track is made up of poly fibers , sand and a waxy substance which drains easily and doesnt get dangerous potholes when wet like conventional tracks and is already considered a bit of a success because horses skip over it (it gives and has bounce unlike the old hard surfaces, but tends to get loose and is tiring for front running speed horses) and come back healthy...it had to happen because horses would break down on conventional surfaces at a horrific rate, at the last Bay Meadows meet in the SF area 47 horses were put down in a 3 month meet, and similar numbers were occuring at other tracks (although that was not highly publicized).  Two of the first synthetic tracks in wide use in North America were in Woodbine (ontario) Canada, and Turfway Park here in the US, the first big track to use it stateside was Keenland, and it changed the way betting is done because it didnt favor speed (for those who arent aware the Keenland track had a notorious speed bias, front runners at all distances drawn in the first 4 inside posts won a ridiculous amount of races on the old dirt track for over 15 years) , lots of closers meaning late runners were winning on the new surface, it confused many horse players and had Andy Beyers (the speed handicapping guru whose speed index numbers and handicapping system are named after him..the beyers numbers) writing dirty press on the surfaces, but...horses seemed to love it and most importantly they trained and ran safely on it ... Hollywood Park has had a synthetic surface about a year now (cushion track), Arlington has a synthetic surface (poly) Golden Gate in SF area is getting tapeta and a number of major tracks are in the process of changing their tracks over, when next years Breeders Cup is run in Arcadia Ca. at Santa Anita it will be the first one run on a synthetic track (which will be cushion track also, similar to Hollywood Park in Los Angeles) here in the US...the Breeders Cup race you watched was a 'win and youre in' qualifier race, the real Breeders Cup for this year is scheduled for two days in October...hope this helped...