Excerpt:
"The biggest problem with the synthetics, certainly here in California
and what I'm hearing elsewhere, is the manufacturers really didn't
understand the amount of traffic that would be on the race track.
We're talking 1,500, 1,800 horses hitting it every day, and that's
just something that hadn't been done before. It's created a
maintenance problem which has created a problem for keeping those
tracks consistent."
For all you synthetic haters out there, keep the faith. I keep hearing
from very good sources that traditional dirt surfaces will be back in
California sooner rather than later.
When these tracks first went in, it seemed as though 80 percent of the
horsemen were in favor of them. Now, it's almost turned 180 degrees
where nearly 80 percent are anti-synthetics.
Funny that it took this long
Only the owners of cheap bred claimers want the old dirt back! They
need an advantage or they'll just keep losing to better bred
closers...this is so obvious even a cave man could figure it out.
> Santa Anita president is talking about the switch to good old
> fashioned dirt.
> http://www.insidesocal.com/horserac...und-off-ag.html
>
Now, here's the full URL to that article if anyone is interested. Don't
know why Tim's copy & paste did what it did above.
http://www.insidesocal.com/horseracing/2009/12/charles-latest-to-sound-off-
ag.html
Excerpt ?? It's the whole damn article but one or two sentences short.
Don't hold you breath on this one. There needs to be legislative changes in
order to move back to dirt and 'Arnold' has much larger priorities to tend
to. Even so, by the time it's approved, Hollywood Park will have been
closed. The Del Mar property is owned by the State and unless the Del Mar
Thorobred Club pays for the switch to dirt, the State is certainly in no
position to be wasting the money to do so. That leaves GG and SA. Can't say
much about GG, but how many years does Santa Anita have left. IMO ( a
longtime SoCal resident ), two or three. Hope I'm wrong. Rubber will be
here for a while yet, Tim.