Sealing The Track

That said, it's important to note that because there is no standard for track composition in terms of sand, silt, clay, loam, organic matter, and every track is different, each track plays differently. To cite one example, the track at Aqueduct has a high sand content because the dates run at Aqueduct are typically the wettest times of the year. So the track superintendent finds it beneficial to have a lot of sand in the track to assure fast drainage. The result is that when there has been a lot of rain, the main track at Aqueduct can be like a wet beach-- it packs down and gets harder. You may get faster times on such a track than when the surface is rated "fast".

Churchill Downs historically has had a high clay content in the track surface, with the result that the track can be very cuppy at best of times ("cuppy" means that when a horse strides on it, the hoofprint forms a "cup" on the surface of the track; it has depth, and it holds its shape rather than immediately crumbling) and can be really sticky and tiring when it gets wet.

A lot depends, too, on how the track superintendent deals with rainfall. At Santa Anita and Hollywood Park in the pre-synthetic days, the superintendents had enough time in most cases to get out the heavy roller equipment and "seal" the track before rain came. Basically when they seal the track, they're rolling and compacting the surface so that instead of water penetrating and making the track muddy down deep, the water just runs off the surface and drains away. Of course, the problem with this is that even when they opened the track surface in preparation for the day's racing, there was some compaction and the track would tend to get harder. During some of our rare wet winters, the track superintendent would sometimes have to close the track to exercise in order to do deep harrowing and conditioning of the subsurface and base after the track had been repeatedly sealed.

With synthetic surfaces, I think everyone, including the people who manufacture and install them, is still on a learning curve of what has to be done to keep the track consistant and safe in all kinds of weather.

From a handicapping standpoint, the important thing to remember is that each track is unique, and that you have to become familiar with what the weather conditions do to the the individual track surface.