END OF THE POLY TRACK AT DEL MAR

 Shortly after 4:30 p.m. Sunday when a 2-year-old named Firing Line crossed the finish line, the Polytrack era at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club came to an end.

Beginning next week, the synthetic surface will be replaced with “El Segundo” dirt for the 2015 summer and new fall meet.

It was an appropriate name of the final winning horse on the surface because Polytrack was on the firing line from the time it was installed in 2007. The first year the surface was painfully slow, but little by little Del Mar learned how to manage the surface.

In fact, there wasn’t a single fatality during the new 15-day Bing Crosby Season, which concluded on Sunday before 5,554 fans.

“I wasn’t one of those guys who said the surface was terrible,” said Peter Miller, who claimed the Bing Crosby training title with 15 winners. “There was a small, very vocal group against it and we all know who it is. It’s a safe track.”

Victor Espinoza, who stole the show — and inaugural meet — on Saturday with his ride on California Chrome, won the jockey title by one over Elvis Trujillo, 12-11.

“I think the Polytrack is good,” Espinoza said. “It was better at this time of the year because it was cooler. It wasn’t too hot like the summer and it was much, much better.”

Joe Harper, CEO and president, put the whole Bing Crosby Season in perspective. “The number I love best is zero (fatalities),” he said. “(Polytrack) is going away for the same reason it came in, safety. We can’t be the only show in town with a synthetic track.

“Now Santa Anita and us will have the same kind of track and it will be easier on the horses.”

Ironically, the Polytrack was the reason trainer Armando De la Cerda came to Del Mar with La Tia ($6.60), who won the featured Grade I Matriarch on Sunday. But the first-time visitor couldn’t find a synthetic race so he ran his 5-year-old mare at 1 mile on the grass and she beat Queen of the Sand by 1¼ lengths.

“This is a nice place,” said De la Cerda. “I expected a faster pace. When I saw (23.65 seconds) for the first quarter, I knew it was done.”

Harper was more than pleased with the way the new meet went with averages of 9,055 fans on-track and a total handle of more than $10.4 million per racing day.

“In 2013, I stood here and said that summer was a dream meet,” Harper said. “This was a dream meet on steroids. The racing was good and the horsemen were happy. The overall flavor of the meet was great.”

And next year Del Mar gets to add a fifth week, which will include Breeders’ Cup weekend, which will be held at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky.

Read the full article at  http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/nov/30/del-mar-polytrack-horses/