HRFLA Staff Report
Gulfstream Park on Monday began installing a synthetic racing surface.
The new Tapeta track will be the third racing surface at Gulfstream, along with its dirt track and turf course.
The Tapeta track will be positioned over what is currently the outer third of the turf course. That course is 170 feet wide on the straightaways and considerably wider on the turns.
To allow for the installation of the Tapeta surface, Gulfstream has cut back beginning this week from a four-day race week to a three-day race week of Friday through Sunday.
Gulfstream said that work on the third racing surface is expected to continue through August. Turf racing will continue throughout the project, except at races for five furlongs.
The Silks simulcasting area will remain open seven days a week.
Tapeta is one of several synthetic or "all weather" surfaces that are in use at horse tracks in the United States, Canada and other nations. It is a mix of sand, wax and fibers--with no dirt.
Gulfstream will schedule races on Tapeta. When races are taken off turf due to wet conditions, Gulfstream will usually move them to Tapeta.
Gulfstream's dirt track is 1 1/8 miles in circumference.
The Gulfstream turf course is seven/eighths of a mile in circumference at the rail.
Gulfstream has said that the turf course will remain wide enough for it to continue to use portable posts each day for turf races at two rail settings.
In addition to the Tapeta project, Gulfstream is renovating the drainage system on the inside of the turf course and is installing a new infield tote board.
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HorseRacing FLA staff