Santa Anita Park Picks Synthetic Track

2008 Breeders' Cup World Championships at Santa Anita Park

The 2008 Breeders' Cup, thoroughbred racing's most prestigious event, consisting of 14 Breeders' Cup races and $25.5 million in purses, will be held on October 24-25, at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.

Posted on Thursday, May 24th, 2007

ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) — Santa Anita Park has chosen Cushion Track as the synthetic racing surface it will install in late August, giving the track an identical surface to the one at Hollywood Park.

Cushion Track is composed of silica sand mixed with synthetic fibers, elastic fiber and granulated rubber, and coated with wax. It will replace the dirt track.

“We went to racetracks around the world numerous times to evaluate synthetic tracks from the point of view of the horsemen, jockeys, fans, weather conditions and track operators,” track president Ron Charles said Wednesday.

Charles said it was impossible to ignore how well horsemen have received the Cushion Track surface at Hollywood Park.

“We believe the horsemen will definitely appreciate this consistency, because there’s a definite level of confidence that the horses display when they train daily over virtually the same surface,” he said.

The project is scheduled to be completed the first week of September, allowing three weeks of training time before the Oak Tree meeting opens.

Other California race tracks, Del Mar track and Golden Gate Fields, are installing synthetic tracks, too.

Tags: Santa Anita Park, Synthetic Race Track, Cushion Track

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"Santa Anita Park Picks Synthetic Track" was posted on Thursday, May 24th, 2007 at 9:08 am and is filed under Horse Racing Industry, Race Tracks News, Santa Anita Track, USA Horse Racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.