George Bernard Shaw once opined that:  “all evolution in thought and conduct must at first appear as heresy and misconduct.”

In America that heresy has been to suggest that dirt tracks may have had their day. For the last two years European runners have enjoyed conspicuous success at the Breeders’ Cup, where the meeting has been held at Santa Anita, a course which uses what Americans describe as a synthetic surface.

Over here it would be regarded as all-weather and the surface, called Pro-Ride, is similar in consistency to the Polytrack surface that has proved so popular since it first appeared at Lingfield Park in 2001.

However, there has always been a faction within the sport in America that is opposed to such surfaces; one of the most notable of whom has been owner Jess Jackson, who refused to allow his star horse Rachel Alexandra to run in the Breeders’ Cup Classic because of his aversion to what he describes as “plastic tracks”. That view will be seen to have been vindicated after Santa Anita abandoned Monday’s card because the Pro-Ride track could not drain sufficiently after a day of rain.

Dirt tracks in California were replaced in accordance with local legislation brought in for equine welfare reasons, with Cushion Track the original choice for Santa Anita in 2007. However, that also had drainage problems and was replaced by Pro-Ride in 2008, but now the course executive are considering turning the clock all the way back to dirt.

Quoted in the Daily Racing Form, track president Ron Charles said: “There have been discussions knowing we’re going to have to replace this racetrack after this meet. The options are out there to return to dirt.”

Keith Brackpool, the chairman of the California Horse Racing Board chairman, admitted that authorities “would be open” to such a proposal.  It was his predecessor, Richard Shapiro, who led the move for California’s tracks – which also comprise Golden Gate Fields, Del Mar, and Hollywood Park – to install synthetic surfaces.  

There is nothing synthetic about the opposition to such tracks and respected journalist Andrew Beyer wrote last month of Zenyatta’s win in the Classic that: “the large majority of US horses are bred for dirt and compete principally on dirt in a nation whose racing history has been made on dirt. It is absurd to describe a race as a true championship test when America’s best dirt runners have little chance to win. Under these conditions, neither Zenyatta’s win nor Rachel Alexandra’s absence should keep Rachel from being recognized as the best horse of 2009.”

However, American racing has also had to recognise that the traditional ways may not sit easily with the casual viewing public. The upcoming first racecourse clash between Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta is pure marketing gold but in recent years some of America’s most high profile days, the few times when horseracing connects to a major television audience, have been scarred by horse fatalities, such as the death of Eight Belles after the filly, who finished second to Big Brown, broke both her fore ankles pulling up after the 2008 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs and that of George Washington when he broke down in the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Monmouth Park, the cause of which may well have been racing on a saturated surface.

It is an accepted fact that the dirt tracks are prepared for speed on major days but it is also the constant training on dirt that can be a contributory factor to many of the injuries. Michael Dickinson, the former champion National Hunt trainer in Britain, trained in America for over 20 years and has strong views on the subject. “The science behind the dirt track is 100 years old and hopelessly outdated,” he once said. “It is well documented, by numerous scientific papers, that wet dirt tracks cause more injuries.”

The hallmark of Dickinson’s training career, which he retired from in 2008, has been an inquiring mind and he has been the driving force behind one of the new types of surfaces, Tapeta, which has been adopted by Sheikh Mohammed for Meydan,  his new racecourse in Dubai.

There are no problems with that but there are reports that all is not well with the turf course, just over a week before the first meeting takes place on January 28th. The rumour is that the turf track will not be used that night, and not as often as scheduled before the Dubai World Cup fixture on March 27th.  

Will anyone dare to suggest that Sheikh Mohammed’s latest racing venture might not be ready for its big event? Now that would be a heresy.

Paul Wheeler