Will Santa Anita switch? The numbers show synthetic's safer

While no sort of official announcement has been made, rumblings continue that Santa Anita Park could be headed back to the days of racing over a synthetic surface, specifically Tapeta.

The Arcadia, Calif., track installed a short-lived Cushion Track in 2007, only to revert to dirt in 2010. The synthetic detractors pointed to excessive heat absorbed by the surface and, anecdotally, soft tissue injuries experienced by horses running over it. But the numbers were clear: Santa Anita experienced some of its lowest rates of fatalities in seasons when not running over dirt.

While the collection methods and criteria as to what constitutes a “race-related fatality” can be questioned, the Jockey Club’s Equine Injury Database illustrates a lower rate of fatalities over synthetic in every year since 2009. Also, in eight of the study's 10 years, synthetic surfaces measured fewer fatalities per 1,000 starts than turf. 

In February of 2006, the California Horse Racing Board mandated that all racetracks in the state which ran for more than four continuous weeks were required to install synthetic surfaces by the end of 2007.

The Pro-Ride track was installed, and racing resumed at Santa Anita on Sept. 24, 2008. But this surface was also short-lived as well with dirt reintroduced in December of 2020. The rate of equine fatalities increased nearly five-fold the following year and has sat above the North American average ever since.

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As with Santa Anita, Del Mar also went from dirt to synthetic and back to a dirt main track. Del Mar installed the Polytrack brand surface for the 2007 summer meet and resumed racing on dirt in 2015.

Two of the four safest years at Del Mar in terms of fatalities per start have come in the last two years. Fatality rates on the dirt at Del Mar in 2017 and 2018 were 1.76 and 0.91, respectively, compared to the North American average of 1.74 and 1.86 during the same time frame.

Santa Anita’s fatality rate of dirt in those two years were 2.27 in 2007 (12 fatalities in 5,292 starts) and 1.75 in 2018 (nine fatalities in 5,149 starts). The 2019 rate will be much higher following the spate of on-track deaths at Santa Anita this year.

It's a good bet that conversation will continue in regard to bringing synthetic back at Santa Anita, where in the wake of Hollywood Park's closure the season is longer than in years past. The numbers indicate this sort of change could curb the rash of fatalities that brought Santa Anita into the national spotlight.