god dang that looked bad

[georgewashington]

Originally Posted by Danzig188

oh, and not OLD news, they just had the article a couple of days ago.

It is the same kickback issue. It has been a problem for quite some time. Do you follow Woodbine at all or know anyone there? There has been an overuse problem that is causing this. They just need to tweak it, cut down on the overuse, and put some water into the track.

[Danzig]

no, it wasn't just kickback. the wax isn't holding everything together like it was supposed to.
and why would they allow toe grabs if it was just kickback??

[Downthestretch55]

Originally Posted by Danzig188

no, it wasn't just kickback. the wax isn't holding everything together like it was supposed to.
and why would they allow toe grabs if it was just kickback??

thanks to Sumitas, here's the link:
http://jen-thoroughbreds.blogspot.co...searching.html

[georgewashington]

Originally Posted by Downthestretch55

thanks to Sumitas, here's the link:
http://jen-thoroughbreds.blogspot.co...searching.html

You are giving me a blog. You can't be serious. Read the DRF article she is talking about or talk to horsemen at Woodbine. This blogger, and bloggers always have agendas, didn't read the article.

Here it is. I will cut out a useless paragraph or two for copyright reasons.

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache...s&ct=clnk&cd=1

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Woodbine's racing department held an open forum here late Friday morning and approximately 150 horsepeople took the time to show up at the sales pavilion.

While the agenda was open, the only subject discussed was the state of Polytrack, which has become a source of concern for both management and horsemen.

"We know we have a serious problem," Jamie Martin, Woodbine's senior vice president of racing, told the congregation. "We're addressing it as best we can, with maintenance procedures."

The problem with Polytrack has been kickback, caused by a separation of the Polytrack components during a recent stretch of colder weather. Brian Jabelman, Woodbine's director of racing surfaces, explained that the colder weather has been preventing the wax in the surface from fulfilling its function of holding the material together when the temperatures dropped.

"The fiber has been coming through the top," said Jabelman. "We're trying to break it down, mix it back into the surface. Adding water has helped."

Ray Sabourin, president of the Jockeys Benefit Association of Canada, was one of several riders present at Friday's meeting.

"It's a high kickback," said Sabourin. "It's nothing like we haven't dealt with, with the dirt - it hurts. The track's still safe; it just doesn't seem to be as good as everybody thought it was going to be."

Management and horsemen agreed that the amount of traffic on the Polytrack surface has exacerbated the problem. Woodbine will attempt to ease that situation by extending the training track season by two weeks, to Nov. 26.

Another immediate result of Friday's session has been a change of shoeing policy for Polytrack racing and training. Only flat shoes have been permitted, but, effective Saturday, Nov. 11, toe grabs up to a quarter of an inch will be allowed.

[georgewashington]

There is no safety issue at all at Woodbine. It is just tweaking that is need like most places. The stuff worked forever in Europe and works fine here. You don't like it for gambling ok, but there is no major problem with it anywhere.

[Downthestretch55]

Originally Posted by georgewashington

There is no safety issue at all at Woodbine. It is just tweaking that is need like most places. The stuff worked forever in Europe and works fine here. You don't like it for gambling ok, but there is no major problem with it anywhere.

GW,
I really don't want to get into a poly debate.
If it seperates due to being frozen, doesn't that result in the "kick back"?
How can it be "tweaked" so that the wax is restored? Just curious.
DTS

[georgewashington]

Originally Posted by Downthestretch55

GW,
I really don't want to get into a poly debate.
If it seperates due to being frozen, doesn't that result in the "kick back"?
How can it be "tweaked" so that the wax is restored? Just curious.
DTS

It happens due to the cold weather. Water solves that problem. The track is fine just needs some tweaking. I heard they have it figured out, but must admit I have not heard anything from a reliable source I know there.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving everyone.

[SentToStud]

Originally Posted by georgewashington

It happens due to the cold weather. Water solves that problem. The track is fine just needs some tweaking. I heard they have it figured out, but must admit I have not heard anything from a reliable source I know there.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving everyone.

Think you're wrong. The track super said they did NOT want to put more water on it. When the track's in good shape and it takes water, it works well. When the wax "breaks down," whatever the hell that means, they have problems that water will not solve.

Ask your reliable source what they do to reattach the wax to the rest of the product. Once he tells you, call the track super because they don't know what to do at this point.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by georgewashington

There is no safety issue at all at Woodbine. It is just tweaking that is need like most places. The stuff worked forever in Europe and works fine here. You don't like it for gambling ok, but there is no major problem with it anywhere.

"We know we have a serious problem," Jamie Martin, Woodbine's senior vice president of racing


and i need help with reading?

[Danzig]

as to the wax....if you get wax you want to remove from anything...what do you do with the item? put it in the freezer, stuff comes right off.

this stuff is supposed to be the answer for tracks located up north who want to run during cold weather. if it doesn't hold up due to the weather, than it's pointless. huge investment, and now a serious problem. no amount of tweaking is going to keep wax where it belongs when it gets that cold.

[georgewashington]

Originally Posted by Danzig188

no, it wasn't just kickback. the wax isn't holding everything together like it was supposed to.
and why would they allow toe grabs if it was just kickback??

The wax not holding causes the kickback. It just needs to be tweaked, primarily the amount of water that must be used.

[Rupert Pupkin]

I am a big fan of polytrack. I think it has been a big success everywhere except for Woodbine. I don't know how anyone can claim that there aren't serious problems at Woodbine. Even the senior vice-president of racing at Woodbine said, "We know we have a serious problem." If the senior vice-presdient of racing admits that they "have a serious problem", you can't argue that everything is fine there. They have had a lot of breakdowns on the polytrack at Woodbine too. The first half of the year, they had very few breakdowns at Woodbine this year. Since they installed the polytrack, the number of breakdowns has increased dramatically. Hopefully they will get the problems straightened out.

That being said, polytrack is working great everywhere else. Woodbine seems to be an isolated case.

With regard to the inner-dirt at Aquedeuct, the inner-dirt track is a weatherized surface that is specifically designed to hold up in extremely cold weather. The inner-dirt track at Aquedeuct holds up fine even if it is freezing cold.