Track replacing underway

Construction to replace Santa Anita Park’s synthetic main track with a natural dirt surface began on Monday, Oct. 11, and it is anticipated work on the project will continue into early December. Horses are projected to return to training over the one mile oval on Dec. 6, roughly three weeks in advance of Santa Anita’s traditional winter/spring meeting opener on Dec. 26, according to a Santa Anita announcement.

Trucks working on track at Santa Anita Park.

“This marks the beginning of a very important chapter in our history here at Santa Anita,” said Santa Anita President George Haines. “There is a great deal of anticipation from all corners of the Thoroughbred industry and we’re very excited to get this project underway and to return to live racing.”

Santa Anita was required by mandate from the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) to install a synthetic main track in the fall of 2007. In order to remain in compliance with CHRB regulations, Santa Anita recently petitioned the CHRB to issue a waiver to this mandate. Haines noted that in order for the waiver to be granted, the top layer of the new track surface will need to undergo a variety of tests which will be overseen by the CHRB. “We are currently working with both the California Thoroughbred Trainers (CTT) and the CHRB, and together, we’re developing a consensus with regard to the composition of the various soils that we’ll be using,” said Haines.

MI Developments (MID), Santa Anita’s parent company, has dispatched Ted Malloy, who has been involved with the installation of several tracks around the country and who has been involved in track maintenance for more than 38 years, to oversee the project. “We just started to take the synthetic material off today,” said Malloy on Monday. “We’ve had skip loaders out on the track, piling it up and we’ll start hauling it off tomorrow. We anticipate it’ll take about two weeks to remove all of the synthetic material. “We hope to clear the rocks underneath, which are part of the drainage system, the following week (Oct. 24-30).”

Malloy said following the removal of the current drainage system, work will begin on installing an organic base. “After the rocks are completely removed, the new base material will be applied and we anticipate that will take about two weeks (Oct. 31-Nov. 13). After the base is in place and compacted to proper density, we’ll start to apply the cushion mix, which is what we run on.”

Malloy noted that the cushion will be mixed by Vulcan Materials in nearby Irwindale. “The soils will be coming from several different places and Vulcan will make the cushion mix out of a conglomeration of several types of sands and clay, to our specifications. “After the cushion is in place, we will harrow and water it until the material is stabilized and this should take at least one week.”

Santa Anita is currently closed for training but is open for simulcast wagering on tracks around the country, including Hollywood Park.