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Home / News / Latest study says synthetic tracks are safer

Latest study says synthetic tracks are safer

  • drf.com
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  • March 08, 2013 6:27 AM
The fatality rate for Thoroughbred horses running on synthetic surfaces continues to be far lower than the rate on dirt and turf surfaces, according to a Friday release by the Jockey Club of updated figures gleaned from the Equine Injury Database.

In 2012, the fatality rate per 1,000 starts on synthetic surfaces was 1.03, half the 2.10 rate for dirt surfaces, according to the data. On turf, the fatality rate was 1.74 per 1,000 starts.

A difference between the fatality rates first showed up in the 2009 data, when horses running on synthetic surfaces had a 1.49 fatality rate per 1,000 starts and dirt horses had a 2.10 rate. Since then, the fatality rate on synthetic surfaces has fallen every year, while the dirt rate has held steady.
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What the Nation is saying about Latest study says synthetic tracks are safer...

Turf is proven easier on bones than dirt. I agree, dressage. I think turf and synthetics are a bit better, but I think the real probalem (like I said) Is the unsoundness. Training especially.
cocoa- I think they are doing it by percentage, not from the actual number. Personally, I too believe synthetics and turf are better for the horse. Think about it a little bit. Running on natural dirt is a bit harder on your bones than turf or synthetic ground. However, I don't think synthetic/turf is THAT much better than dirt. Sounds like to me they are trying to blame surface instead of the real problem: lack of balance and training
I don't know. I didn't read the article but.... There wasn't artificial back in the day.... Horses didn't break down... And it was TURF or DIRT. I'm not buying it. Maybe synthetics are safer, as the study shows, but horses have been competitevly running on dirt much longer than synthetcs, and NOW the argument rises? If horses were healthy and sound, dirt wouldn't have more break downs. I agree with cocoa, dirt is more commmon, more break downs. I'm not buying this at all. In fact, to be honest, I have never cared for synthetics. Besides Arlington and Woodbine I don't care muh for those surfaces.
Synthetics are the way to go. I have been a huge supporter of it for years. Turf/Synthetic is much safer for horses to run on then Dirt.
If you go to the Equine Injury database, they break the stats out by track. Santa Anita clearly shows a lower rate of catastrophic injury when they had the synthetic track, compared to dirt. All other factors were the same, only the track was different. So I like you cocoa2, but I'm not buying your argument.
Even more important to remember is that the tracks with synthetics (Arlington Park, Betfair Hollywood Park, Del Mar, Golden Gate Fields, Keeneland, Presque Isle Downs, Turfway Park, Woodbine) all get top class horses and trainers, with the exception of Presque Isle Downs and Golden Gate Fields. If all tracks converted to synthetics I would bet that the national rate would be more like 2/1000
The number of races run on synthetic is far less.
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