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Report: Gulfstream Considers Adding Tapeta Course To Offset Turf Use

The Stronach Group's COO Aidan Butler told the Thoroughbred Daily News this week that Gulfstream Park may become the first track in North America to have three surfaces, adding a Tapeta surface to its standing dirt and turf courses.

The addition of a synthetic track would offset the use of Gulfstream's turf course, Butler explained, which now faces an increasing work load in 2021 after the closure of Calder. Running Calder as Gulfstream Park West for two months out of the year, Gulfstream officials had been able to give the primary turf course a rest.

Mike Lakow and Bill Badgett were the initial forces behind the idea to install a Tapeta course.

“This was Billy and Mike's idea, that we maybe could get a Tapeta track in there as part of the turf course,” Butler told the TDN. “You would then have the perfect three surfaces. That would rest up the turf a little bit. And should the weather change, it would give you a lot of options to keep turf races together. Also, from a safety standpoint, it would be nice to have more than one surface for training in the mornings.”

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

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Churchill Downs To Install New Turf Course

A new $10-million turf course that will widen the running surface and increase durability to allow for an increased number of races will be installed at Churchill Downs following the Spring 2021 meet at the historic Louisville oval. Officials expect that the new course will be ready for use in the Spring of 2022, but did not rule out the possibility that turf racing could resume in November 2021.

The current Matt Winn Turf Course is a seven-eighths mile oval situated inside the dirt track and has been in use since the introduction of turf racing in 1985. It is comprised of four-inch high Kentucky 31 Fescue (90%) and Bluegrass (10%) grown in a three-inch topsoil layer over a 13-inch course masonry sand base.

The new and more robust turf course will be a similar blend of fescue and bluegrass and will have a redesigned subsurface. The growing medium will contain a six-inch upper root zone layer created with a blended mix of topsoil and grit sand which will sit on a six-inch lower sand layer constructed with masonry sand. Churchill Downs planted several test plots in the spring of 2019 and selected the best for use in the new turf course.

A state-of-the-art irrigation and drainage system and will be widened to 85 feet. The new course will allow for a variety of rail positions from 0 to 36 feet and will accommodate a field size of up to 14 horses.

Because of the project, there will be no stabling at Churchill in July and August 2021 and no racing will take place in September 2021 so as to allow for the turf course to take hold.

Of the 700 races staged annually at Churchill, approximately 25% are written for the grass. In 2019, there were 169 races carded for the turf, but 43 of those were transferred to the main track due to weather and/or sub-optimal turf conditions. Officials at Churchill were forced to cancel turf racing for the final two weeks of the current meeting.

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Churchill To Undertake $10 Million Turf Course Replacement; No Stabling At The Track Next Summer

Churchill Downs Racetrack will invest $10 million to install a new turf course that will widen the running surface and increase the durability to allow increased turf racing throughout the year at the historic home of the Kentucky Derby.

The capital project will begin immediately after the completion of the 2021 Spring Meet and be ready for turf racing to resume at the start of the 2022 Spring Meet. If growing conditions are favorable enough, the new grass course could be ready for use by the November 2021 Fall Meet.

The current Matt Winn Turf Course, a 7/8-mile oval situated inside the one-mile dirt track, is the original surface when grass racing debuted 35 years ago at Churchill Downs in 1985. It is comprised of four-inch high Kentucky 31 Fescue (90%) and Bluegrass (10%) grown in a three-inch topsoil layer over a 13-inch course masonry sand base.

The current track, which is 80 feet wide, was designed with a crown that runs down the center of the track to facilitate drainage, limiting the number of running lanes.

The new turf course includes a new state-of-the-art irrigation and drainage system, will be widened to 85 feet and be designed to use the full width and banking in the turns. The new course will provide multiple rail movement options with the capacity to accommodate four racing lanes that range from 0 to 36 feet out and as many as 14 participants per race.

Churchill Downs retained the United Kingdom-based STRI Group to design a new racing surface for the historic track. STRI has designed, constructed, maintained and provided consulting and monitoring services for world-class turf surfaces supporting equine athletics at the highest level, including Ascot Racecourse and Riyad Equestrian Club. Additionally, STRI has provided grass consulting to signature international sporting events, including soccer's FIFA World Cup, tennis' Wimbledon and golf's Open Championship.

As a result of the turf project, there will be no stabling at Churchill Downs for eight weeks during the months of July and August. Also, there will be no turf racing during the 2021 September Meet to allow the roots to grow down and the turf to take hold.

Churchill Downs stages approximately 700 races each year during its three race meets with about 25% of those races scheduled for the turf. In 2019, there were 169 scheduled grass races but 43 of those events were transferred to the dirt because of inclement weather or suboptimal course conditions.

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Churchill Downs: ‘Out Of An Abundance Of Caution,’ No Turf Racing Through Nov. 22

Churchill Downs notified horsemen on Saturday that all races scheduled for the grass course at the Louisville, Ky., racetrack will be transferred to the dirt surface through Nov. 22.

Races scheduled on the turf course on Friday and Saturday were moved to the main track, including Saturday's Mrs. Revere Stakes, designated Grade 2 as a turf race but automatically downgraded to Grade 3 and subject to review by the American Graded Stakes Committee.

“Out of an abundance of caution, there will be no turf racing at Churchill Downs through Sunday, Nov. 22, because the course has not satisfactorily responded to this fall's climate,” the statement said. “Our team will continue to evaluate the course daily and grass racing will resume should the conditions become more optimum. As a result there will be no turf entries taken for races scheduled to be run on turf from Nov. 19-22. All scheduled turf races in the condition book during this time period will be transferred to the main track and entries taken for the same conditions will be dirt only.”

The last turf race at Churchill Downs was the ninth race on Thursday, marred by the fatal injury to Grade 1 stakes-placed Winning Impression, who took a bad step at the finish and sustained a catastrophic leg injury as he was being pulled up.

Churchill Downs has two more graded stakes scheduled on turf before the meet ends Nov. 29: the Grade 3 Cardinal on Nov. 26 and G3 River City on Nov. 27.

Keeneland reduced the use of its turf course during the fall race meeting because of weather issues in advance of the Lexington, Ky., track hosting the Nov. 6-7 Breeders' Cup championships.

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