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Synthetic tracks are safer, no question about it.
Santa Anita, and Del Mar, have had problems with their track surfaces now for almost twenty years. The reason why the state mandated a switch to synthetics back in 2007 was because of fatal breakdowns. But Santa Anita screwed that up badly when they installed the Cushion track differently than the one at Hollywood Park (which worked fine), then they went to Pro Ride, and then they switched back to dirt. But when they switched back to dirt in 2010, it was the worst dirt track in history with ten claimers running blazing track record times. Then in 2014 they brought in Dennis Moore to replace the dirt track with another dirt track, and that track was intensely speed favoring for a few years and made the racing boring. And now the breakdowns are back. This is a long debacle that has cost the track tens of millions of dollars. I don't know what the answer is and I don't understand why Hollywood Park never seemed to have the severe problems with breakdowns that Del Mar and Santa Anita did.
Andy LaRocco is the track super, came in a few months ago to replace Dennis Moore, but he worked for Moore for a long time.
I thought Stronach should have tried to emulate the NYRA tracks, which do well in all sorts of weather conditions.
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