Thanks to the recent investment from The Jockey Club, the Lexington-based Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory is becoming more efficient at the inspection of racing surfaces prior to the start of every race meet. The gold standard for safety is consistency and these inspections are a critical step toward improved consistency.
The intent of the pre-race meet inspection is to ensure that with the track properly prepared, the surface is consistent between years and, when possible, also between different tracks. This consistency reduces variation, both around the track and between tracks, and ensures that annual maintenance has been performed.
However, keeping a consistent surface requires daily maintenance as well as watering of turf and dirt, aeration of turf surfaces, grading of the dirt surface, harrowing and, in some cases, tilling of synthetic surfaces. This daily maintenance is critical to keeping the surface in the same condition at the finish of the race meet as at the start.