Andrew Beyer: Synthetic supporters didn't weigh all the facts

When the Blue Grass Stakes is run at Keeneland on Saturday, it is
unlikely to produce the next Kentucky Derby winner. Though it was once
the most important 3-year-old prep race, it became irrelevant after
Keeneland replaced its dirt track with a synthetic surface. None of
the seven horses who captured the Blue Grass on Polytrack proceeded to
win on Churchill Downs's dirt; most ran dismally.

The decline of its signature race was only one of the reasons that
Keeneland announced last week that it will remove the Polytrack and
install a dirt surface for its fall meeting. Del Mar made a similar
decision last month, and Santa Anita got rid of its synthetic track in
2010. But the decision by Keeneland - a power in the Thoroughbred
industry - signaled that the movement to synthetic surfaces is
finished in the United States.

The changeover to synthetics was triggered by a series of events in
2006. Barbaro's fatal breakdown in the Preakness triggered nationwide
discussions about horse safety. That summer, both Arlington Park and
Del Mar experienced epidemics of breakdowns that generated more bad
publicity for the sport. Arlington and all of the major California
tracks would soon replace their dirt surfaces. Keeneland not only
installed Polytrack in the fall of 2006 but became a partner of the
company that manufactured it.

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