'Everybody's excited': Jockeys praise new Turfway surface

The new Tapeta surface at Turfway Park has resulted in a changed product on the track. It has also led to the perception that it offers more paths to the winner's circle and has breathed new life into the jockey colony.

[Related: Turfway Park GM: Track moving up in class with renovation project]

From the perspective of the riders, the change has resulted in a learning curve. Turfway regular John McKee said he still has a lot to decipher about the new surface.

“It’s fresh, it’s new, there’s not a whole lot of kickback right now,” McKee said. “It’s got some bounce to it. It’s not so tiring.”

According to McKee the surface is fair to all riders and allows horses to win from both the lead and off, a stark difference from the old Polytrack.

“It looks like it’s favoring horses that are coming right off (the lead),” McKee said. “You can close from last and you can win on the lead. That’s a good indication that the track’s not so biased.”

The old Polytrack surface, which was installed in 2005 when it replaced a dirt surface, was well worn by the time 2020 rolled around. McKee said the new track offers more paths to victory.

“You had to be wide and you had to be on the lead,” McKee said of the old track. “You couldn’t close from last on the previous track. Where this track it’s got some bounce, and I think everybody’s excited about it.”

Fellow Turfway jockey Malcolm Franklin agreed with McKee, saying the new surface has changed the game strategically at the track.

“It’s pretty fair,” Franklin said. “Fair surface. Seemed like the first week a lot of horses weren’t winning on the front, but I don’t know if the horse was coming up short or the track played that way.”

Franklin also remarked on the differences between the surfaces, saying the old track would bother horses when it got cold and had the potential to sting their feet.

“That track was in pretty bad shape,” Franklin said. “Last year everyone was staying off the rail a lot saying the rail was dead, but now it’s pretty good overall all over the track. It’s not bothering the horses much.”

General manager Chip Bach said in August that the new surface brings Turfway up to the standard of many other top tracks and helps attract better talent.

“We’ll have a very stable racing surface to compete on,” Bach said. “I think Tapeta, the brand, has certainly earned the respect of every level of horsemen. So I think that will certainly contribute to a decision to stay at Turfway.”

Both McKee and Franklin said that the new surface has brought with it a wave of new riders to the track. McKee estimated that where Turfway might have had around 20 regular jockeys a year ago, the 2020 colony numbers closer to 40-50 jockeys.

“They could be leaving to go down south to Oaklawn or whatever,” McKee said. “But this December meet’s tough. You’re going to have to show up and perform, because there’s a lot more jockeys here than there have been in the previous years.”

Turfway Park's December meet is scheduled to end New Year's Eve. Action at the Florence, Ky., oval will then resume with a meet that runs January-March.