Santa Anita Park has opened its all-new synthetic Tapeta inner training track manufactured by Maryland-based Tapeta Footings, Inc., effective Saturday morning.

Following the Breeders' Cup, the 'Great Race Place' embarked upon an $8 million project to provide horsemen with a state-of-the-art all-weather surface that will complement its one-mile natural dirt main track and serve as a safe and viable component in the conditioning of Thoroughbreds on a year 'round basis.

“At Tapeta, our aim is to maintain the surface so that we have a soft cushion below and a slightly firmer finish on top,” said Joan Wakefield, of Tapeta Footings. “This helps to reduce kickback and provide stability without as much impact on the horse. For the training track at Santa Anita, we have used a high temperature wax specially blended to suit the California climate.”

Santa Anita's original training track, “Anita Chiquita,” was eliminated in the early 1970s when construction began on what is now The Shops at Santa Anita Mall which adjoins the racetrack off of Baldwin Ave. Subsequently, Santa Anita's current inner training track was constructed at that time. At 4,200 feet, it is just shy of 6 1/2 furlongs in circumference.

“We are delighted to have finished construction on this very important project and I know our horsemen are anxious to begin utilizing it,” said Santa Anita Senior Vice President and General Manager Nate Newby. “It's been a major undertaking and we are so fortunate to have the project headed up by Dennis and Rob Moore along with Jesse Martinez.”

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Constructed by Tapeta Footings, the new surface is designed to improve safety while also helping to limit weather-related training disruptions.

“The main thing is having synthetic will alleviate a complete stoppage of training because of weather,” said Jason Egan, Santa Anita Director of Racing and Racing Secretary.

This week has provided a perfect example of the potential impact of a synthetic training track at Santa Anita. With back-to-back rainstorms hitting the area, the main track was “sealed” on Tuesday and has since been closed entirely for training.

“We have some unique situations in California with rules as it relates to weather,” Egan said. “Like with the rain this week. It either closes our racetrack entirely or limits what our training activities can be.”

With the worst of this week's rainstorms having passed, Santa Anita's main track is expected to be unsealed Friday. Per rules of the California Racing Board, only joggers will be allowed on the track Saturday. Full training is slated to resume on Sunday given the current forecast.

“Having a synthetic training track, we can continue on with workouts, gallops, that sort of thing. I think it will be a big assist,” Egan added.

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Tapeta has been installed at Turfway Park in Kentucky and at Gulfstream Park in Florida, Golden Gate Fields in California and Presque Isle Downs in Pennsylvania, as well as facilities in Canada, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

“I am honored and flattered to receive the Galbreath Award,” Dickinson said. “The safety of the horse has always been a long-term goal of mine ever since I was a child when on small ponies I had to keep up with my mother, who was on a Grade A international show jumper. We used to jump post and rail fences, some with ditches and drops, and stone walls. Since then, I've always felt very grateful and indebted to all the horses I rode.”

A native of Yorkshire, England, Dickinson is perhaps best known as the conditioner of 1996 and 1998 GI Breeders' Cup Mile winner Da Hoss (Gone West). He was a champion steeplechase jockey before becoming a trainer, is a member of the Steeplechasing Hall of Fame and has four listings in the Guinness Book of World Records, including the record for the most racing wins [12] in one day. Dickinson owns and operates Tapeta Farm training center in Maryland.

“We are excited to present the 2022 Galbreath Award to Michael Dickinson for his contribution to the sport of racing through the creation of Tapeta and synthetic track surfaces,” K. Amy Lawyer, assistant professor and chair of UofL's Department of Equine Administration, said. “The nature of the Galbreath Award is to recognize innovation and business efforts that move the equine industry forward. Mr. Dickinson's business achievements added a new element to a sport that had been largely unchanged for centuries.”

The Galbreath Award is named for the late John W. Galbreath, a self-made man who distinguished himself in both business and as a horseman. The Darby Dan Farm founder was honored with the 1972 Big Sport of Turfdom Award and in 1974 he won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Breeder. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2018 as one of its esteemed Pillars of the Turf.

For information on the award presentation dinner to honor Dickinson to be held Mar. 30, contact Kimberly Spear at kimberly.spear@louisville.edu or 502-852-7727.

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Casse – inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame this year after a 2016 induction in the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame –  is this week's special guest on the Friday Show, joining Ray Paulick and bloodstock editor Joe Nevills to share his extensive knowledge and strong opinions about track surfaces. This week, Gulfstream Park in South Florida became the first facility in North America to have three unique racing surfaces: dirt, turf and the Tapeta Footings synthetic track.

Other tracks could follow suit, Casse said. “I think New York may be flirting with synthetic tracks somewhere down the line,” he said. “And I think it would be great and I think it would pay for itself in no time.”

What about the anecdotal contention by some horsemen suggesting that, while synthetics may result in fewer fractures or fatal injuries, more soft-tissue problems develop on a synthetic track?

“That is the biggest bunch of hogwash that I've ever heard,” said Casse. “That's the most ridiculous statement. I can tell you we have far more soft tissue injuries on dirt than we ever do on synthetics. That's somebody saying things and they don't know what they're talking about. Whenever I hear that I just laugh.”

Casse also brings viewers up to date on some of his stable stars, including two-time Grade 1 Fourstardave Stakes winner Got Stormy.

This week's Woodbine Star of the Week is Pink Lloyd, the Canadian sprint superstar who scored his 24th career stakes win last week in the Grade 3 Bold Venture Stakes.

Watch this week's Friday Show, presented by Woodbine, below:

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“Racing at both Wolverhampton and Newcastle has benefitted hugely from the installation of Tapeta, as we have worked closely with Michael Dickinson, Joan Wakefield and their team on the maintenance and upkeep of both surfaces,” said ARC Chief Executive Martin Cruddace. “Tapeta represents the next generation of artificial all-weather racing surface, in terms of its appeal to both trainers and jockeys, and it offers a number of benefits regarding its safety record, relative lack of kickback and fairness for horses.  In addition, it has the ability to handle very low temperatures and significant rainfall.

“The installation of Tapeta will give us an opportunity to look at the flat programme at Southwell and possibly introduce some Fast Track Qualifier races for the All-Weather Championships, for example. This work represents another significant step forward for racing at Southwell, which we intend to be one of the finest all-weather tracks in the world.”

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In that race, the 3-year-old gelding Dream High was pulled up by jockey Deshawn Parker midway down the backstretch of the 6 1/2-furlong sprint while trailing the field. The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission confirmed Wednesday morning that Dream High was euthanized because of the injuries he sustained.

“It was an open fracture and very serious,” said equine medical director Dr. Bruce Howard. The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission conducts necropsy reports on all racing fatalities.

Dream High was making his fourth start since debuting at Indiana Grand Sept. 24 for trainer Randy Klopp, who co-owned the Honor Code gelding with Spiess Stable LLC. He was carrying a $30,000 tag in the maiden claiming event. The gelding was coming off a second-place finish at Indiana Grand on Nov. 5 in a $25,000 maiden claiming event.

A $370,000 weanling purchase by Mayberry Farms at the 2017 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, Dream High was produced from the Unbridled's Song mare, Ecology, who was a non-winner in two starts as a 3-year-old. Dream High recorded six workouts for trainer Peter Eurton at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., from Jan. 18-March 28, then surfaced at the Thoroughbred Center in Lexington, Ky., where he was credited with two workouts in late June and early July. He then was entered to sell at the July 13 Fasig-Tipton July Horses of Racing Age Sale but was bought back by his consignor for $10,000. He began working again in late July, recording five breezes at Indiana Grand prior to his Sept. 24 racing debut there. He has no recorded workouts since then, according to Equibase, the industry's official data base.

Churchill Downs Inc., which purchased Turfway Park in October 2019, invested $5.6 million to install Tapeta Footings – a mixture of silica sand, wax and fibers.– as a replacement for Polytrack, which has a similar composition. The latter was installed in 2005, when Turfway became the first North American track to race over synthetics since Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla., opened in 1988 with Equitrack, a sand and oil-based polymer surface. That track was removed after several years.

Tapeta is now in place at Presque Isle Downs in Pennsylvania (installed in 2007), Golden Gate Fields in Northern California (2007) and Woodbine in Ontario, Canada (2015). Tapeta Park in Tasmania, and British tracks Wolverhampton and Newcastle also have Tapeta surfaces, as do several major training centers.

The other remaining synthetic racetrack in North America is the Polytrack installed at Arlington Park in 2007. Keeneland, Del Mar and Santa Anita installed, and then removed, synthetic racing surfaces.

According to The Jockey Club's Equine Injury Database, which monitors and analyzes racing fatalities at North American tracks, the Tapeta surfaces at  Presque Isle, Golden Gate and Woodbine have produced fewer fatalities per 1,000 starts, on average, than the aggregate of all tracks. Golden Gate, for example, had 0.64 deaths per thousand starts in 2019, compared to an overall North American fatality rate of 1.53. Woodbine had 1.32 per thousand for 2019. Presque Isle in 2018 (the most recent year available) had 0.34 deaths per thousand.

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