Over the years, NYRA has slowly been moving towards more turf racing. It's not unusual for a summer card to have more turf races than dirt races. When the turf season is over, some of those horses are turned out to farms for a freshening and others are shipped to warmer climates. That means instead of having 4-5 dirt races to fill, NYRA has to fill 8 or more dirt races with potentially fewer horses available to do it.
Turf racing is growing in popularity. Most likely that's because the horses stay sounder, the fields are larger, and the races appear to be more competitive. Apparently there may be some downsides in the colder months.
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