As officials and horsemen at Turfway Park work daily to find an optimum Polytrack surface for winter racing, there is growing sentiment the synthetic material is affected by temperature or swings in temperature.

Recently, horsemen have expressed concern over the balling-up of Polytrack, which is a mixture of sand, rubber, carpet fibers, and wax. Though the surface itself is uniform, they said collection of the material in the hoof and shoe could lead horses’ legs to hit the ground unevenly.

From Jan. 1-Feb. 11, there were four catastrophic breakdowns at Turfway–two during racing and two during training hours–said Dr. Nancy Davis, state veterinarian for the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority. Last year in January and February, there were none on Polytrack, but in 2005 on the old dirt surface, there were 13 fatal breakdowns the first two months of the year.

“There’s no question trainers are concerned, and Turfway is communicating with us,” said Marty Maline, executive director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority. “The cushion was balling up, and we’re dealing with that problem. With that said, people recognize it’s a much better surface compared to the old dirt track. They want Polytrack to work–even the guys with the strongest concern