Retired Racehorses

concepts used in road building rather than biomechanics. In this and other articles, the definitions and
concepts that are well established from road and railroad building are applied to horse racing. In
particular, the spiral turn is defined and the applicability to horse racing is discussed. Developing true
spiral turns in the current race tracks would be quite difficult because of the required changes in the
geometry of the track and the limited space surrounding most racetracks.
While Thoroughbred racing has been the subject of discussion of the issues to be considered,
previous work with banking has never linked this to loading on the legs. This is a complex issue for
thoroughbreds because the horse has an ability to lean into the corner and the asymmetric loading of
the jockey reduces lateral loading on the legs. These combine to make banking optimization specific to
not only the speed and radius, but also to the positioning of the jockey and the gait of the horse. The
most important work which has linked to the biomechanics of the gait and risk to the horse has been
done with trotting horses and specifically links banking with injuries (Fredricson et al. 1975). This work
has been repeated in other racing jurisdictions but also with Standardbred horses (Evans and Walsh
1997). No comparable study has been performed with Thoroughbred horses with the differences in
loading and gait which makes extrapolation of the results from Standardbred horses problematic. There
is a need to understand the optimal design of a racetrack, and understand the implications of the
current design for the health of the horse.
Composition and Design
No other aspect of racing is as firmly established as characterizing the use of basic composition
measurements. At least a basic composition test is used at nearly all racing venues and is a key aspect of
management of the surface. What is less well understood and has not been as carefully considered is
the interaction of track design and composition. The demands on the composition control are quite
different for a shallow sand track laid over a hard base. At the same time surfaces which can be
effectively compacted are well studied to base materials and to tracks which have a false base of
compacted material. There remains a need to continue to develop better quantitative methods of
characterizing track material and to extend some of the new developments from synthetic track
material characterization to the testing of dirt and turf track materials and to link these characteristics to
the climate and design of particular tracks.
TESTING OF RACING SURFACES
Surface Material Characterization
The characterization of the racing surface materials is the best understood and most common
type of racing surface monitoring. While important to the overall performance of the surface, material is
just one aspect of developing an appropriate racing or training surface. Many of the discussions which
revolve around the surface material, are really issues associated with weather or maintenance.
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