Polytrack Question

[ponypro]

Just an observation. Ive watched some races from turfway and there really
seems to be a significant kickback "Cloud" of material from the horses. I understand that there is a considerable amount of "fibers" in that cloud. I cant imagine that would be healthy to breath over the long term. Not for the horses, there lifespan is short ,but the Jockeys. So before we have coast to coast fiber tracks someone should pose the question of an asbestosis like inhalation disease potential. I havent seen that question asked yet. Is that thinking too hard or does anyone care??

??

[cj]

From what I've read, the kick back is considerably less than what you get on a typical dirt track. This info is from the makers of the polytrack though. I'd like to see some independent testing, as I'm no fan of this stuff.

[RonTiller]

Check out this link:

http://www.horse-canada.com/html/feature_article_TB.html (http://www.horse-canada.com/html/feature_article_TB.html)

Quoting from a section of this article:
Pendgergest says, “There is more kickback at Turfway Park than we expected, but very little on other installations. What we have seen at Turfway is that horses are winning from everywhere; they’re winning on the lead, stalking positions and coming from behind, so the kick back is not affecting them. The state vet at Turfway tells us that they are not ingesting it. They may have some in their nostrils, but any of the horses that have been scoped have not come up with any of it in their lungs. Horses probably don’t need toe grabs on it, and that may be part of the kickback at Turfway Park; a lot of the horses still have toe grabs on. Their feet don’t slide like on a regular track surface.” In England, the jockeys say there is no kickback, but toe grabs are banned in that country.

Collins also said that the Turfway mix was designed for wetter weather - which should arrive during the winter meet - than experienced in September and that might be a partial factor in the kickback.

[Tom]

I wonder about the long term effects of breathing in the plastic molecules?Plastic is not something you want in your system. It is really nasty stuff.
Might not be anything, but it could be a bomjbsheel in 10-20 years, when some study points to a cancer hot spot amoung riders. Hope not. I really like the poly - I like the fair track idea.

[pandy]

I've thought about the exact same thing, namely, is this stuff going into the jockey's and horse's lungs? It seems that this would be a logical thing to test.

Pandy

[Valuist]

Have to wonder if Polyturf can be far behind. Quite a few football stadiums have gone to field turf, which is made from rubber and crushed up tires bits like Polytrack is. It has more give to it than regular Astro Turf but obviously a lot easier to maintain than grass.

[Tom]

What will be next - replace the turf courses with that green Easter basket grass? :p

[GlenninOhio]

Northern Kentucky winter was very dry and this clearly contributed to the "dust clouds".

The track was not watered at all as far as I can tell - probably related to winter temperatures.

I can tell you that the exercise riders much preferred it when conditions were at least somewhat wet, though these occasions were few and far between.

One rider would come back to our barn and she'd cluck that "God watered the track overnight!" - in other words, it had rained. Claimed the horses liked it better as well.

[kenwoodallpromos]

Next up is Polywater that does not evaporate or drain as easily in dry humidity.