From God’s Carpet to plastic fantastic

[Murray Fish]

From God’s Carpet to plastic fantastic – The curious place of synthetic surfaces in Australian racing

By Bren O'Brien - July 18, 2024

A winter wet spell on the eastern seaboard has shone a light on the virtues, or otherwise, of synthetic tracks in Australian racing. But 20 years after their widespread introduction, their future role as a racing surface of meaning remains uncertain.

While trainers have embraced alternative surfaces for trackwork and barrier trials, some are reluctant to race their horses on synthetic courses. (Photo by Pat Scala/Racing Photos via Getty Images)

Minutes after Beat The Tide had caused a 150/1 boilover in the 2005 Canberra Cup, as the rain poured down in the national capital, a decision was made which set up an era of synthetic tracks as a racing surface in Australia.

The Barbara Joseph-trained Disco Touch would win the first race staged on the ThoroughTrack surface, as the last two races on Cup day on October 9, 2005 were transferred.

But nearly 20 years later, the role that synthetic racing should play in Australian racing is no clearer. While synthetic surfaces are seen as entirely suitable for training, and a good stop gap measure for racing, there are varying opinions in its role as a dedicated racing surface. 

Victoria, which now has synthetic tracks at both Pakenham and Ballarat, schedules 27 race meetings each season, down from a peak of 48 in 2015/16. That pair of tracks also offer a suitable back-up option when wet weather makes racing on turf tracks impossible.

Queensland also has two synthetic racing surfaces at the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast. Racing Queensland would usually only schedule ‘about 20’ dedicated synthetic meetings a season, but the troubles with the Gold Coast turf track has meant the ‘poly’ has carried the sole load through most of 2024, filling the traditional weekly Saturday Gold Coast spot.

Tasmania has a higher percentage of synthetic meetings, staged on Devenport’s Tapeta surface. With only three racetracks in regular use in the state and the short Tassie winter days making it a hard place to regrow grass, ‘God’s Carpet’, as the Tapeta has been tagged, makes up for at least every second meeting during the winter. It also races through the summer, including the Devonport Cup meeting in early January.

Some principal racing authorities (PRAs) view synthetic racing as an inferior wagering product, However, while anecdotally there have been indications that it usually generates 10 to 20 percent less turnover than an equivalent turf meeting, in Victoria and Tasmania that is not the case.

While the preference is often to find another turf track to relocate to, moving meetings to the synthetic is seen as better than no turnover at all, in the case of abandoned or lost turf meetings.

Over the past three winters in Victoria, average synthetic turnover has been at least equal to turf racing of similar quality and represents a higher turnover per starter. It also generates higher turnover than winter meetings of a similar standing held on heavy tracks.

Similarly, there is little turnover difference in Tasmania when it comes to comparing a synthetic meeting at Devonport and the equivalent turf meeting at Hobart on a winter Sunday. It is the only location for metropolitan racing on a synthetic in Australia. 

Devonport offers year-round racing on its Tapeta surface. (Photo: Facebook Devonport Racing Club)

When talking to PRAs that use synthetic racing surfaces, it is common to hear that their greatest service to the industry is as an all-weather training tool.

That it can be utilised for racing, either as a back-up option, or as a scheduled, regular winter alternative is almost considered a bonus. From a track management perspective, it allows turf tracks time to recover during times when grass growth is difficult.

However, while trainers are willing to embrace it for trackwork and trials, there still exists among many top trainers, a reluctance to race their horses on synthetic.

While this presents opportunities for other trainers to target synthetic racing, the broader perception is that it is a second-rate racing product. There is also a long-held perception, rightly or wrongly, about the impact synthetic racing has on horses from a soundness perspective.

To understand this further, it is worth looking deeper into the short history of synthetic racing in Australia.

The first dedicated meeting on the ThoroughTrack in Canberra took place on May 12, 2006 and a few months later Racing Victoria announced it would also install the same wax-coated sand track with elastic fibre as a second track at Geelong. It was opened for racing the following year.

The cold winter climate in southern Australia makes it hard to grow the grass needed to ensure turf surfaces can recover from racing. The synthetic tracks allowed Canberra, with its below-zero winter mornings, to continue racing, while Geelong was designed to take the workload off other tracks and offer a suitable alternative in the case of ongoing poor weather.

Synthetic racing has been part of the Canberra landscape for almost two decades. (Photo: Thoroughbred Park)

In Queensland, the announcement of two new synthetic tracks in 2007 was positioned during drought times as an opportunity for tracks to reduce water usage and provide a bulwark against the massive tropical downpours that hit southeast Queensland.

Sunshine Coast was the first to install and use the ‘cushion track’ in 2008, complementing its turf course, while in 2009, Toowoomba opted to replace its entire turf surface with the ‘cushion’ synthetic alternative.

But it was around this time that the challenges of synthetic racing became clear. Geelong’s surface had significant issues, and in May 2009, it was closed for remedial works for a year.

The new Toowoomba surface was shunned by punters and trainers alike, with a 25 per cent drop in turnover and 15 per cent drop in acceptances within two years of the new surface at Clifford Park opening. By 2013, the cushion track had been ripped up and replaced by a grass StathAyr track, an expensive $20 million misstep.

Meanwhile, Tasmania began its step into synthetic racing in 2011.  

As early as 2009, questions were being asked as to why NSW had not adopted a synthetic racing option. At the time, CEO Peter V’landys said Racing NSW was assessing its options.

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However, V’landys had made his mind up by 2012, when asked about synthetic tracks by The Sydney Morning Herald.

“We won't invest in synthetic tracks until they are proven and punters like them,” he said.

'Studies in international jurisdictions show horses suffer more injuries and we want to look at all the data. We have had submissions from jockeys that have said they do not want to ride on synthetic tracks in races.''

V’landys’ view was backed up by none other than Bart Cummings.

That view has not appeared to have changed, despite V’landys seemingly being asked about synthetic tracks every time there is either a downpour or a drought in NSW.

Gold Coast's 'poly' racetrack was opened in 2023. (Photo: Racing Queensland)

Racing SA CEO Vaughn Lynch ruled out a synthetic track option in South Australia on radio this week. 

Interestingly, Racing Victoria, which has opened two new synthetic tracks in the past decade, released a green paper in 2022 which indicated its preference for reducing synthetic racing. The troubled Geelong synthetic track was discontinued in 2019, in favour of Ballarat, having come to the end of its useful life.

And that’s the challenge synthetic tracks face. They wear out, be it after 10 or 15 years. It means that PRAs face a choice on whether they continue or not. Pakenham’s track, opened in 2015, has a likely expiry date in the next five years, with suggestions that the inner track could be replaced by turf.   

In Queensland, the Sunshine Coast cushion was ripped up and replaced by a poly track in a $9 million project. The new synthetic surface began racing in 2021, while the Gold Coast poly track only opened last year. Queensland seems wed to the ‘poly’ option for another decade at least.

It’s a similar story in Canberra, where a new polytrack was installed on the Acton track just last year and a cost of $5 million.

Devonport’s Tapeta is getting to the end of its time and Tasracing faces a decision on which surface they progress with. Logistically, it would need to be synthetic, as replacing it with turf would mean a major training and racing centre is pretty much out of action for a year.

With those facts in mind, synthetic racing will continue in Australia for the foreseeable future. Perhaps unloved, it is a necessary part of a turnover-driven landscape.