Expert says Keeneland has no problems with track

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Keeneland, which will host the Breeders’ Cup on Friday and Saturday, did not change any of its track-maintenance procedures despite a spate of catastrophic breakdowns early in its meet, according to track officials who cited the advice of a renowned surface expert who reviewed the track’s condition and the maintenance crew’s procedures in the wake of the injuries.

Rogers Beasley, Keeneland’s vice president of racing, said on Wednesday that the review by racing-surface specialist Mick Peterson during the second week of the meet did not turn up any abnormalities or inconsistencies in the surface or in the procedures employed by the track’s maintenance crew, which is headed by Javier Barajas. Peterson had taken measurements of Keeneland’s dirt surface – which was installed prior to the 2014 fall meet as a replacement for the track’s synthetic surface – just prior to the meet starting, and his review included a comparison to those initial measurements, Beasley said.

“Dr. Peterson found that the track was very consistent with what the measurements were two weeks prior, and he advised us to continue our same program, to keep doing what we were doing,” Beasley said “He thought Javier and his crew were doing an excellent job, and he thought that we didn’t need to change anything.”

Peterson was brought in to reevaluate the surface after four horses, all stakes winners, suffered fatal breakdowns during the first week of the meet. Three of the horses broke down on the main track. Also that first week, Work All Week, who won last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint, was retired after being diagnosed with a stress fracture. The horse’s handlers believed he sustained the fracture when running in Keeneland’s Phoenix Stakes on opening weekend.

Although Keeneland-based horsemen continued to project confidence in the surface despite the injuries, the spate of breakdowns caused more consternation than usual among the racing community due to Keeneland’s status as the Breeders’ Cup host track. The breakdowns had also stirred criticism of Keeneland’s decision to replace its synthetic track, which had posted breakdown rates at the low end of the spectrum among U.S. racetracks in the eight years in which it was used.

Beasley said Keeneland officials are confident that the track will be in satisfactory shape for the Friday and Saturday cards despite heavy rain in the Lexington area leading up to the event.

“We feel very comfortable about both the dirt and turf surfaces,” Beasley said.

Beasley spoke during a short press briefing Wednesday at the track to discuss issues related to the safety and security of Breeders’ Cup horses, including drug-testing protocols. Like most major racing events held over the past five years, Breeders’ Cup horses are placed under extra surveillance in the days leading up to the races, and they are placed under extra scrutiny by regulators.

Mary Scollay, the equine medical director for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, said 43 percent of the horses who have been entered in the Breeders’ Cup races were targeted for out-of-competition testing this year, with samples being pulled from the horses as far back as August. Samples were collected from horses in racing states across the country and in western Europe, Scollay said, and in addition, many of the horses who won races guaranteeing spots in Breeders’ Cup races were targeted earlier in the year for out-of-competition sampling.

Scollay said all of the samples were subjected to the entire complement of screening tests in use at U.S. drug-testing laboratories. All of the samples that have been screened so far were negative for illegal substances, Scollay said, although a “half-dozen or so” test results have not yet come back. Scollay also contended that the screens indicated that Breeders’ Cup horses are administered far less therapeutic medication than the typical racehorse.

Craig Fravel, the president of the Breeders’ Cup, said the organization is pursuing out-of-competition testing more aggressively each year by testing more horses farther away from the event, based on advice from drug-testing experts who contend that most abuse of performance-enhancing drugs occurs with substances that have long-acting effects that are administered well before a race.

“We’re attempting to get to horses much earlier in the year,” Fravel said. “Most experts in the field will tell you that the most effective testing is when it is done on a surprise basis, and, secondly, when it’s done at a point in time when it’s not close to an actual competition.”