Scorpius' breakdown at KEE

[ArlJim78]

they fan out wide on the poly because they can do it and still win. because of the surface and the banking you can fan out and not lose all chance. why is it puzzling that riders get in lanes to avoid kickback? there is also kickback on dirt and if you could fan out and have a chance at a rally they all would do it on dirt as well. the reality is that if you fan out on dirt you're normally toast, but they do it as much as they can get away with. if they couldn't fan out on the poly and rally and win they wouldn't do it and the results would be more speed favoring like on dirt.

[sumitas]

It's way too early to say all weather is no better than dirt. Just as it was way too early to say it is safer. The data and anecdotal feedback on all weather is still positive over all.

[Riot]

There are many studies that have examined the interaction between the hoof of a horse at a racing gallop, historic track surfaces, and injury rates. Synthetic surfaces are designed to eliminate the physical properties we know contribute to breakdown and injury.

A great source of information (you can read the abstracts and conclusions, but have to order the article if you want the details) is PubMed.

Go to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez and enter multiple search terms such as: equine surface track

Is Belmont safer than Saratoga? Than Aqueduct? There was a study on this in the 1980's - you can look that up, very interesting