While the New York Racing Association is already planning to install a synthetic surface at Belmont Park, president and CEO Dave O'Rourke told bloodhorse.com that adding synthetic surfaces at both Saratoga and Aqueduct is also on the table.
The spate of catastrophic injuries during racing at this summer's Saratoga meet is prompting the current discussion about synthetics, but it is not the first time the surface has been considered.
“We are taking a hard, internal look at synthetics and what options we have and are studying a synthetic track at Saratoga,” O'Rourke told bloodhorse.com. “This is not a new thing specifically for this management team. (NYRA executive vice president of operations and capital improvements Glen Kozak) and I have been looking at synthetics for 10 years and we are both proponents of it.”
Among the options for Saratoga is replacing the inner turf course with a synthetic surface and widening the outer turf to allow for additional rail placements.
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