Horse racing is at a survival tipping point. The catastrophic breakdowns that continue to haunt our industry at all tracks racing on dirt is sickening. The decisions that are made in the short term will determine whether horse racing can endure as we know it. The American public has no tolerance for what they perceive as a sport that is immersed in carnage.
The one decision that would be a major game changer and perhaps offer the potential salvation for the future of horse racing is to convert our racing surfaces to synthetic, beginning with our major tracks.
In the Jockey Club Equine Injury Database (EID) for the year 2022, injuries on dirt were 1.44 per 1,000 horse starts. Turf injuries were 0.99 per 1,000. Injuries on synthetic were vastly diminished with 0.41 per 1000. This data shows that synthetic surfaces are 3.5 times safer than dirt and 2.2 times safer than turf. These statistics are compelling in showing the exponential safety of today's synthetic surfaces over dirt and turf.
The data is compelling but it doesn't tell “why” synthetic tracks are safer. In 2006, I chaired the shoeing committee for The Jockey Club Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit. We were tasked to examine the safety of toe grabs, which Dr. Sue Stover at the University of California-Davis had shown to significantly contribute to breakdowns. We employed sophisticated high-speed cameras with a closed group of nine horses provided by the jockey school Chris McCarron was leading to understand why toe grabs were contributing to breakdowns. We filmed hoof contact with the racing surface using a variety of shoes with varying toe grab lengths on dirt surfaces and on Keeneland's synthetic track.
The results were dramatic. What we learned was the effect of “slide” on the lower limb of the horse. With Queens plates, the front foot has an average slide on dirt of 3 ½ to 5 inches. The average slide on synthetic was 1 ½ inches. Slide is important to understand. It's the “give” in a horse's stride.
The increased length of slide on dirt causes two things to happen. First, it magnifies torque on a horse's lower limb. If a horse “toes in” the limb incurs torque medially because of the increased forces on the outside of the hoof. If they toe out, then the torque is lateral with the increase forces on the inside of the foot. And when horses step in holes on a dirt track, the torque can go either way. This doesn't happen on synthetic tracks because of the shorter slide, which greatly diminishes torque. Also, a horse's foot is always landing flat on a synthetic surface as opposed to the cuppy holes that cover a dirt track. Synthetic also provides a much higher energy absorption than dirt with a higher energy return.
A synthetic track with its diminished slide provides a quicker “breakover” which reduces energy expenditure. This is why so many more horses are in the race at the head of the lane. The finishing field spread, first to last, on average goes from 30 lengths on dirt to 20 lengths on synthetic. And because of the diminished energy expenditure, average finishing times have become faster on all tracks that have converted to synthetic.
The second important factor that we were able to measure was the magnified load on the pastern that was presented on dirt. Because of the exaggerated slide and delayed break over on dirt, the pastern continues to load through the stride, increasing its drop by as much as an inch over synthetic. We were also able to see this increased load when horses landed in the “holes” created on dirt tracks.
As you can visualize, the increased load or drop of the pastern creates excessive strains on the suspensory apparatus of the horse's lower limbs, stretching the “rubber bands” and magnifying the opportunity for a catastrophic failure. When a horse blows out its suspensory apparatus in a race it leads to a broken leg in the next few strides.
Suspensory and tendon injuries are extremely rare on synthetic but occur way more frequently on dirt because of these magnified strains.
The videos also exposed how lethal toe grabs were on all surfaces. They were especially detrimental on synthetic because they abruptly stopped the foot not allowing any slide. This is why trainers were experiencing hind end and soft tissue injuries early on because they were continuing to use toe grabs on the rear feet.
Catastrophic breakdowns are rarely caused by one bad step although this is more likely on dirt. As most orthopedic surgeons will testify, they are the result of cumulative microscopic injuries that accrue with the thousands of steps a horse accumulates in training and racing. It's the law of physics. Excessive torque and loads on a horse's legs will eventually take its toll. Racing and training on synthetic surfaces greatly diminishes those strains and a horse's natural ability to remodel bone will have a better opportunity to repair and strengthen.
We not only have the irrefutable data over hundreds of thousands of horse starts on synthetic, but we have the notable success of several major tracks that have employed them.
The first is Keeneland. The last meet they ran on synthetic in 2014 was the most successful meet in Keeneland's history at that point. All-time attendance and handle records were set. There were record field sizes, minimal scratches with inclement weather when races were taken off turf. And most importantly, there were zero breakdowns!
Why did Keeneland reconvert to dirt? You need look no further than dirt stallions.
The second is Santa Anita. The last meet run at Santa Anita in 2010 had an injury rate of 0.59 per 1,000 starts. The following year, with dirt racing returned, the fatality rate was 2.94 per 1,000 starts, or five times higher.This is in spite of a poor quality installation that would not properly drain, eventually having a subsurface membrane failure allowing aggregate to float to the surface.
Here are some compelling stats from three tracks currently running on synthetic surfaces: Golden Gate Fields, Presque Isle Downs, and Gulfstream Park.
Golden Gate had an injury rate of 0.38 per 1,000 with 12,986 horse starts in 2021 and 2022 on their Tapeta Surfaces.
Presque Isle race meets in 2021/2022 had 0.24 injuries per 1,000 with 8,178 horse starts.
Gulfstream with its newly installed Tapeta track had the best record of all with only one fatal injury out of 7,085 horse starts with 0.14/1,000. This translates to a 9.7 times safer surface than their dirt track.
Belmont has recognized the advantages of having a synthetic surface with its scheduled completion in the spring of 2024.
Injuries on a national basis have dropped significantly at certain tracks since the implementation of intensified pre-race veterinary examinations of our horses and have the promise of continuing to diminish injuries with mandated requirements by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.
This current high-level scrutiny of starters combined with the conversion to synthetic tracks will dramatically reduce injuries and show the world that we care.
Horse racing is a sport with a rich history of tradition. The thought of changing the racing surface of the Kentucky Derby to a synthetic surface will not appeal to those that value tradition above the safety of our horses and the survival of our beautiful sport. If we do not take drastic proven steps to significantly eliminate breakdowns we are destined for the fate of Greyhound racing. Today's public has no stomach or tolerance for what they perceive as abuse of our horses.
The “writing is on the wall,” or in our case in the New York Times, CNN, and the six o'clock news. We either quit wringing our hands and doing countless more dirt studies while ignoring the obvious, or we embrace innovative change supported by data and the laws of physics for the safety of our horses and riders, or we are destined to continue our industry's slow and painful death.
Bill Casner is a longtime Thoroughbred owner and breeder
The post Casner: Synthetic Tracks Are Safer – Here’s Why appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Old Friends, the Thoroughbred retirement facility in Georgetown, Ky., is deeply saddened to announce that Sarava, the upset winner of the 2002 Belmont Stakes (G1), has died today.
According to the preliminary report from Dr. Colton Thacker at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, he was euthanized due to complications from a leg fracture. He was 24.
The dark bay Thoroughbred was the first Classic winner to be retired to the farm on Sept. 29, 2012, thanks to his owners, Gary Drake, and Paul and Susan Roy of Great Britain.
Bred by Bill Entenmann's Timber Bay Farms, Sarava, who was by Wild Again-Rhythm of Life, by Deputy Minister, was foaled in Kentucky on March 2, 1999.
Sarava, which is a Brazilian greeting that means “good luck,” began his racing career in Europe in 2001 as a 2-year old, where he ran three times, but never finished in the money.
The beautiful dark bay stallion was then sent to back to the United States and won his first start there in a maiden claiming race at Churchill Downs on Nov. 21, 2001 under trainer Burk Kessinger. He only ran one more time that year, where he finished second in an allowance race at Turfway Park.
He returned to the track in 2002 as a 3-year old with a new trainer, Ken McPeek, and after a minor injury kept him off the Derby trail, scored the best accomplishments of his career.
Following two second place finishes in allowance races, he bounced back and won the Sir Barton Stakes (Listed) on the Preakness Day undercard at Pimlico on May 18 for his first stakes victory.
His next race, however, is the one that put him into the history books when he upset the field and won the 134th running of the Belmont Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park on June 8. Ridden masterfully by Hall of Fame Jockey Edgar Prado, Sarava, who went off at 70-1 odds, battled Medaglia D'Oro throughout the race after War Emblem, who was attempting to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978, stumbled at the start.
Guided by Prado, Sarava took the lead coming out of the final turn, and at the wire got the win by a half-length over Medaglia D'Oro to become the longest shot ever to win the Belmont Stakes. He paid $142.50, $50.00, and $22.40. War Emblem, who would also become a retiree at Old Friends, finished eighth.
In 2005, as a 5-year old, and with a new trainer, Bob Baffert, Sarava finished sixth in an allowance optional claiming race at Del Mar. Following that race, he suffered a serious bout of colic and did not race the rest of the year.
He did return to the track in 2006 as a 5-year old, but was never the same. In the seven races he ran that year, he never finished in the money. He was retired following his last race on Aug. 22 where he finished fifth in the Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap (G2) at Saratoga.
Sarava concluded his racing career with a record of three wins, three seconds, and $773,832 in earnings in 17 starts.
He began his stud career in 2005 at Cloverleaf Farms in Florida, and then was moved to Cloverleaf Farm in Kentucky in 2007. In 2008, he was sent to Bridlewood Farm in Ocala, Fla. for the remainder of his stud career. His best progeny included stakes-winner, Gladding, as well as stakes-place runners Gorgeous Melody, Star of Sarava, and Sarava's Dancer.
Sarava was pensioned in 2012 and, following conversations between then-Midway, Ky. Mayor Tom Bozarth and co-owners, Gary Drake, and Paul and Susan Roy, the then 13-year old stallion was donated to Old Friends and arrived at the farm on Sept. 29, 2012.
“It's a sad day for our family and friends,” said owner Gary Drake when he heard the news. “We've all been Sarava fans since we met him in 2001. When you get into horse racing, you hope to have the opportunity to be involved with a horse like this. I mean it's cliche, but people say it all the time, they (the horses) take you places you would never go otherwise, and certainly Sarava did that for us.
“He was a, a cool horse, a lot of fun to be around,” Drake continued. “And, he lived half of his life at Old Friends and was the beneficiary of having all of those visitors who came by his paddock to visit him and fed him carrots. He lived a good life there. I wish he was going to be around longer, but that's the life with horses.”
“As everybody knows, he gave me one of the biggest thrills of my career,” said Edgar Prado, Sarava's jockey in the Belmont. “When I moved to New York, he gave me my first Triple Crown winner. Everybody will remember him, not only for that, but as one of the biggest longshots in history to win the race.
“I was glad to see him recently at Old Friends,” Prado continued. “But I think the most important thing is that in the last years of his life, he's spent quality time among so many good people that showed him love, showed him respect and admiration for what he has done for horse racing. It's tough to see him go, but I think he felt the love from all the staff at Old Friends who did a super job.”
Added Michael Blowen, President and founder of Old Friends, “Sarava attracted so many fans to Old Friends. Most recently, a horse player said he bought a condo in Ft. Myers with his winnings from that race. But, to us, he was a lot more than the longest shot in the history of the Belmont Stakes who defeated fellow Old Friends retiree, War Emblem. He was proud, independent and, in his way, very lovable. And you can't buy that … even at $142.50. We thank owner Gary Drake and friend Tom Bozarth for allowing us to care for Sarava for more than a decade.”
The post Sarava Dies At 24 Due To Complications From Fracture appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
