#Soundbites - Is turf racing safer for horses than dirt?
/By Bill Heller
With ongoing concerns about equine welfare and speculation in the industry about reintroducing synthetic tracks to replace dirt tracks, we asked trainers, “Is turf racing safer for horses than dirt?”
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Christophe Clement
I don’t like the question. You can compete on a safe turf course or an unsafe turf, a safe dirt or an unsafe dirt. I don’t think one surface is safer than the other. With synthetics, they shouldn’t have dirt or synthetic tracks; they should have dirt and synthetic. And turf, too. Why not have all three?
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Peter Miller
Peter Miller - Yes. Synthetic and turf are safer; they mimic each other. Both are safer than dirt racing. Statistically, it’s safer. I would imagine the reason is that they stay on top of it, instead of going four to six inches into it. There is less pressure on the joints. And there’s more bounce to it, like running on grass instead of sand. It’s more forgiving.
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John Servis
Statistically yes, but there are a lot more dirt races. I don’t necessarily think turf is safer.
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Brian Lynch
Brian Lynch - I would say for sure. It might be a lot more forgiving. You see a lot of eight and nine-year-olds running on turf and you don’t see that on dirt—those long-tenured horses running in big races. I’ve had a lot of luck keeping grass horses around longer and keeping them going. I’ve had a lot of experience on the poly, but what keeps horses around for a long time, I’d say, is turf.
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Joe Sharp
I think absolutely that turf racing is safer than dirt. It’s more consistent. Statistically, the numbers show they are much safer, and to me, personally, I think turf is much safer.
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Peter Eurton
That’s a hard question to answer. To be honest, I really don’t know. I haven’t had too many bad accidents on turf or dirt, knock on wood. I’ve had more on dirt obviously because I race more on dirt. I’ve had accidents on turf and dirt. I’ve had turf horses get hurt on dirt while training.
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Barclay Tagg
Michael Stidham
No question that turf is safer, especially on a firm course vs. a yielding or a soft turf. On firm turf, as long as it’s not too firm, they’re going over the top of the turf. On a soft or yielding course, they sink down into it. And I’m a big believer in synthetic tracks because I believe they are safer to train on it. And the numbers back it up. Some horses might not race well over it. They should have three surfaces: turf, dirt and synthetic.
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Barclay Tagg
My answer would be definitely. And I’m a firm believer that they don’t bleed as easily on turf. I do believe that. From our experience, Robin (Smullen) and I both believe that turf racing is easier on the horses.
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