Safe tracks
 

Im no expert just read a lot and try to listen. With all the controversy about cussion,,polly, turf or dirt. One track that realy stands out is The Fairground. A older track that has always been praised as a kind track. Maybe cannon could expand on this and compare some of the tracks as far as good ones to race on and which ones are easier on the horses. I would think FG would be a excelant example because of the very wide range of the qualty of the stock.

One question about Fairgrounds that might involve safety of the track. Was the timer moved or has the track changed that much because of Katrina? They are running some wicked splits in sprints compared to years past.

you did bring up an intresting aspect. Did tge flooding affect the track ? Is there another track that runs some of the top races around and also has very low dollar stock running.. Is this a positive or a negative when some of the top outfits consider sending a string to FG?

You'll never hear any artificial track proponents recognize that certain dirt tracks show very good safety statistics. It's like they are stuck on some mantra that only artificial tracks can be safe.

And right now the artificial tracks are producing some very questionnable statistics.

I have a feeling in the long run this will end up as "The Great Poly Hoax" a lot like baseball had it's Astroturf fiasco.

Fairgrounds main track is pretty good. Like any track the weather can effect the surface either way. We have gotten a lot of rain in New Orleans and the track has been muddy in the AM about 1/2 the time the past few weeks but what can you do? Because the water tables are very shallow here the track retains moisture more than other dirt tracks.

For what it's worth the Cushion track at Hollywood park is the main reason that we are seeing larger feilds in most of the races at Santa Anita this year. The barns are full at Hollywood and Santa Anita has open stalls because most trainers don't want to at a disavantage by training on Santa Anita's dirt track. Cushion puts some wind in them without the swelling in the tendons and joint like dirt does.

I'm very pleased by the many positive reports coming in on the cushion surfaces. Impovements will make them even better in the future.