Steve Crist: the end of the synthetic era

[Clocker]

Article at the DRF web site (http://www.drf.com/news/steven-crist-tread-wearing-thin-synthetic-era)

[Grits]

If Keeneland were to go back to dirt .... still cannot imagine Breeders' Cup being run at this racecourse. It is entirely too small. This is laughable. It has no where to go. There's absolutely no way unless they plan to extend the grandstand out to the middle of Versailles Road and bump it up against the BlueGrass Airport's longest runway. I love the place, but even remotely considering this is absurd.

[CincyHorseplayer]

Fine by me.I can measure the impact of synthetic racing on myself by the tracks I've taken out of regular rotation on my menu;Keeneland,Arlington,Woodbine.Throw in a hometrack in Turfway.And in many residual ways Churchill also.That would be nearly the entire of the state of Kentucky.Something wrong in that equation.

I loved them all too.I miss them.

[fmolf]

Fine by me.I can measure the impact of synthetic racing on myself by the tracks I've taken out of regular rotation on my menu;Keeneland,Arlington,Woodbine.Throw in a hometrack in Turfway.And in many residual ways Churchill also.That would be nearly the entire of the state of Kentucky.Something wrong in that equation.

I loved them all too.I miss them.
i think you will eventually see all of these tracks with the exception of perhaps woodbine,make a move back to dirt

[BettinBilly]

I am not surprised. I had a very long "gents argument" with a fellow track buddy about this last year. He argued that Synthetic was the best advance in horse racing since the advent of the starting gate. I disagreed heartily.

Del Mar is only the tip of the iceberg IMO. Dirt will return.

[Hoofless_Wonder]

If Keeneland were to go back to dirt .... still cannot imagine Breeders' Cup being run at this racecourse. It is entirely too small. This is laughable. It has no where to go. There's absolutely no way unless they plan to extend the grandstand out to the middle of Versailles Road and bump it up against the BlueGrass Airport's longest runway. I love the place, but even remotely considering this is absurd.

Why not just limit the ticket sales to keep the crowd at a reasonable size?

I absolutely loved going to Keeneland when I lived in Lexington for a couple of years back in '95-'97, but that first warm spring day things were pretty claustrophobic with all the kids from UK there - and I would drive up to Turfway or Maysville or over to Churchill for Bluegrass Day.