But after a year of racing on Polytrack at Turfway Park in the Cincinnati suburbs, track officials there contend they have proof that their new surface is safer.

From September 2004 through April 2005, there were 24 catastrophic breakdowns of horses on Turfway’s dirt track. On Polytrack in the same period a year later, there were only three.

“There is absolutely no way we can ensure the safety of the animal — from a clipped heel to a prior injury not known,” said Turfway President Bob Elliston. “We can’t be so naive to believe we’re going to eliminate injuries, but there’s good evidence we can reduce the number.”

Polytrack, created by Martin Collins, has been installed at tracks in England since the 1980s, starting with training facilities. It has been used as a racing surface at Lingfield Park since 2001, and was installed at Wolverhampton Racecourse in 2004.

Earlier this month, the California Senate passed a bill that would compel major horse tracks in that state to install Polytrack or something similar by the end of 2007. Woodbine in Toronto also has announced it will put in Polytrack this summer.

It’s certainly not the first time the American horse racing industry has considered changing surfaces, but many past experiments have proven unsuccessful.

Before Turfway, the last major North American racetrack to install an all-weather surface was Remington Park in Oklahoma City. It opened in 1988 with Equitrack, a polymer-based surface in which sand is covered with a wax coating. But by 1991, the track switched to dirt because the Equitrack surface was starting to melt and causing health problems when horses inhaled kicked-up track.

Keith Chamblin, who was in charge of public relations and marketing at Remington at the time, said the troubles with Equitrack shouldn’t apply to Polytrack.

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“There’s been so many technological advancements in the last 15 to 20 years,” Chamblin said. “When Equitrack was at its best, there was no finer racing surface in the country. All indications seem to be that is also the case with Polytrack.”

Even before Equitrack, two Florida tracks, Calder and Tropical, tried another surface, known as Tartan. Tropical closed, while Calder replaced Tartan with dirt.

Some tracks are looking at wood chips for their practice courses, but Polytrack currently seems to be the only serious competitor to dirt on the racing oval.

Patrick Biancone, a Frenchman who trains horses all over the world, says he has never found a better surface than Polytrack, which is why he stables several horses at Turfway. Biancone has been a major advocate for the surface, and he says the injury to Barbaro only solidifies his feelings.

“Enough is enough,” he said. “Enough jockeys injured. Enough horses killed. It doesn’t mean it’ll never happen again, but at least we should do something so there’s less chance that it will happen.”

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