Word from my SO on the backside is that they’re racing today…Rain not anticipated until 5pm.
Cushion Track gets the boot from Santa Anita
Well considering they’ve screwed this up as badly as they have it was to be expected …
BloodHorse 2-20-08 “Santa Anita to Replace Surface”
“We don’t really see this [the current Cushion Track surface mixed with Pro-Ride material] as a long-term plan,” Charles said following the meeting. “We will probably take it out, though the drainage system will remain. We will be going out and doing a lot more due diligence. Hopefully, we will have a decision by the end of the meet.”
Charles could not speculate on when that replacement would occur because of Santa Anita’s role as an auxiliary training center during the Hollywood Park spring-summer meeting.
Perhaps the most contentious panel came from the trainers, with many supporting the new surfaces and others opposed to it. The trainers primarily discussed whether synthetic surfaces have decreased horse injuries.
“I think we’re in a crisis right now,” said Baffert, who said he initially supported the synthetic surfaces. “I think these vendors who put these tracks in sold us a bill of goods that didn’t do what they’re supposed to. I think these surfaces disrespect the ability of a horse and they disrespect the contest of horse racing, where the best horse is supposed to win.”
Obviously with the 2008 and 2009 Breeders’ Cup being held at SA these guys need to get something done correctly and quickly.
My guess is that Tapeta could get the nod with the success from Northern California.
HOLY COW!!! What a freakin mess!! First they lose a bunch of days because they cut corners in installing the Cushion Track to begin with, causing it to not drain properly, then they lose days trying to fix said screw-up, and now they have to take the whole stinkin mess out and replace it with something else?? Jeez-- and I thought the idiots on the Northern California Fair Circuit could mess up a good dream, but these clowns at Santa Anita really take the cake:no::no::lol:
Maybe I’m being harsh here but I read the Q&A with Richard Shapiro who is Chairman, California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) from today’s 2/22 BloodHorse ‘Talkin’ Horses’ and the guy just seems kinda clueless if not without a lack of passion for racing.
His remarks on wagering - which is something very important like it or not - just seems like “uh, I dunno”. That would be fine if you or I were asked on the street about our position but not the chairman of the CHRB. Same goes for his feedback on the possibility of clossing Hollywood Park, the botched issues at Santa Anita, the maketing of the sport … all his replies just aren’t what you expect with leadership.
You wonder why the sport (and the business) is in trouble? There you go!
Also isn’t it a bit odd that he’s never met Zayat despite the public dustup over synthetics? I would’be met the guy and dealt with his gripes front and center.
I agree that it is very odd that he’s never gone out of his way to meet Zayat.
Is the webcast for that 6 hr meeting out there for anybody to see?
There have been articles on this the last three days in the LA Times (you should be able to find them on the website, tho you may have to register or use BugMeNot.com). The problem is supposedly with the application rather than with the material itself. There was a quote in today’s paper to the effect that they would still be running if they had their old dirt. The threat to move to HP is if the rain continues. That area has had something like 5" of rain since Friday nite, with more due tonite(*). According to the Santa Anita site (http://www.santaanita.com/) there was no racing today either and Monday is a wait and see proposition.
(*)This may not seem like a lot of rain to those of you who live in areas with more porous soil, but things don’t drain so well in these parts. That area probably gets 15-20"/year on average, tho most of it will be December-Feb.
Monday (1/7) live racing cancelled too - Tues and Wed are dark days - so hopefully something will be worked out in the mean time for racing to resume on Thursday.
The the top level of the track as per say isn’t at fault, the installation base where it drains appears the be the culprit, the firm Cushion Track Footings did the install job. They’ll be the ones (I assume) who will have to swallow the cost of digging the course back up at the end of the meet and replacing it.
From last week’s DRF articles:
The company acknowledged that “Cushion Track experts have thus far failed to come up with a solution for the failure of the synthetic surface at Santa Anita Park to drain properly.”
The release, citing Paul Harper, technical director for Cushion Track Footings, said that the Santa Anita Cushion Track was designed to withstand temperatures up to 110 degrees, and that has probably contributing to the drainage problems.
“The focus on the high temperatures was in hindsight a mistake as this has almost certainly compromised the drainage characteristics of the surface,” the release said.
The temp focus seems to be a bit of a redherring. Del Mar gets warmer [Polytrack/Martin Collins] and Dubai [Tapeta Footings] has exceeded 109 degrees F
In fact with Dickinson’s Tapeta, it has the following weather record and still were operational - I assume after the Hurricane’s went through ;):
Since March 1998, our track has provided excellent footing through:
23 Periods of drought
5 Hurricanes (Floyd, Isabel, Charley, Ivan, Jeanne)
12 inces of rain in 12 hours/Hurricane Floyd
22 Floods
Snow and Ice Accumulations
Temperatures ranging from over 110 to -17 degrees
Temperature was cited as the culprit during the dressage show at Del Mar in April. The footing got worse as it got warmer. There have been shows (as well as racing) there since April and I don’t recall hearing about any complaints about the footing with respect to temperature so maybe it’s fixed now?
