Regarding the track surface for the Breeders Cup:
Bloodhorse:
\"Track woes\"
Another department at Churchill Downs that came under some criticism was track maintenance, due to the dirt surface’s uncharacteristically slow drying out process following a day of rain that turned the track wet and very sticky on Friday and to a lesser extent Saturday. Some used the comparison to peanut butter, others molasses and even oatmeal. Photographers had a tough time trudging their way across the track and many of those walking from the barn area with their horses had their shoes sucked right into the quagmire like quicksand.
According to several trainers and owners, clay was added to the track right before the Breeders’ Cup. But track superintendant Butch Lehr adamantly denies that.
What made this so surprising is that Churchill is regarded as the fastest-drying track in the country, and has been known to turn fast in a matter of hours following a drenching. That, however, is the case in the spring and not fall, according to Lehr. The track dried out very little on Friday and still had large patches of water on Saturday, despite bright sunshine for half of Friday and all of Saturday.
Lehr explained the situation. “First off, we added nothing to the track from 2010 to 2011. If I add clay to this track, then the times get too fast. I’m not going to make any excuses other than weather. We went for six months without any rain. All that time we didn’t have a single sloppy track. We had a good rain on Thursday, which came at the worst possible time for us. We had a little wind, but not a lot and there were still a lot of leaves on the trees, which made for many areas of shade. On top of that, we had heavy frost at night. They also built this huge tent on the backside for the Breeders’ Cup owners and trainers to have breakfast and that caused even more shade. Even on Saturday, there was a lot of shade in the stretch because of the shadows from the two grandstand structures on each side of the Twin Spires. As a result of all this, there was still moisture in those shaded areas.
“The track got a good soaking way down. Ever since Eight Belles, we’ve worked to keep this track as safe as possible and we take it seriously. Even if I wanted to close the track for training I couldn’t, because we have an agreement with Breeders’ Cup where we have to let them train. I would have liked to see the track different on Friday, but all in all, I thought the track was playing pretty fair, especially on Saturday. Believe me, this track is the same as it’s always been. We just had bad luck with the weather.”
Lehr also had his share of controversy on Thursday morning when he refused to allow the horses, mainly the Europeans, to train on the grass.
“Some people thought we had a vendetta against Michael Stoute for scratching Workforce the morning of last year’s Breeders’ Cup because the course was too hard,” Lehr said. “That wasn’t true at all. What he didn’t tell anyone was that (Workforce) had a bad foot and wasn’t 100 percent. The Europeans had been on the grass twice that week, and I contacted Adrian Beaumont (of the International Racing Bureau) and told him I would have to close the turf course for training if the weather didn’t cooperate. We were running a stakes on the grass that afternoon and I wasn’t about to compromise any horse’s chances who was running in the stakes. I had to protect the course as best as I could.
“I mentioned the situation to Adrian and he said he didn’t think there would be a problem and I took him at his word. Once it started raining, I couldn’t just change the rules and I didn’t want to risk tearing up the grass with a stakes being run that day. I assure you there was no vendetta.”
