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Santa Anita To Resurface Track - July 2nd, 2008

By Jordan Walters
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

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After the fiasco of last year’s synthetic track installation at Santa Anita the owners have decided to completely resurface the track before the Breeders’ Cup races this year. Santa Anita lost 11 days in the early part of their winter meeting because the new synthetic track installed by Cushion Track did not drain off rainfall properly. To the rescue was Pro-Ride, an Australian company that came in and fixed the track enough to drain off the water. Now Santa Anita is doing it all again. The process is expected to begin July 14 and last six weeks.

“We are very anxious to undertake and complete this project,” Santa Anita Park president Ron Charles said Monday. “We seriously considered other options, and we believe that staying with Pro-Ride and taking the time we did not have in February to fully upgrade the surface is the way to go.”

Santa Anita wants to ensure than there isn’t a repeat of last year, so they’ve hired Ian Pearse, the company’s managing director, to oversee the project. He was in charge last February when the track was reformulated to allow for completion of the winter meeting.

The track will be stripped down, and a new grid base will be added once the old asphalt base is removed. Then the track will be treated with binder and fibre material. The entire surface will be brand new, and should be one of the best synthetic surfaces in the industry. The new surface will debut with the Oak Tree meeting beginning Sept. 24.

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