Hollywood will add wax to Cushion Track

Additional wax will be added to the top layer of Hollywood Park's synthetic surface after a series of recent tests showed a reduced wax content, track officials announced Wednesday. The wax is expected to be added in early or mid-July. The meet ends on July 15.

Track general manager Eual Wyatt Jr. said in a statement that Hollywood Park officials will be meeting with the manufacturer of the Cushion Track surface, Equestrian Surfaces of Burnley, England, this weekend to "determine the timing and method of the application."

"There has been a decrease in wax content in the top layer," Wyatt said in the statement. "The change is probably a natural occurrence with the enormous amount of traffic we have had on this racetrack. The tests indicate the pad under the top layer is relatively unchanged from when it was originally put down."

Hollywood Park installed a Cushion Track last summer and raced on the surface for the first time at the 2006 fall meeting. The surface has been generally popular with horsemen, leading to a full barn area and larger fields at the current spring-summer meeting compared to the corresponding meeting in 2006.

Cushion Track material consists of silica sand mixed with synthetic fibers, elastic fibers, and granulated rubber. The material is coated with a blend of wax.

Hollywood Park is the first track to race on a Cushion Track synthetic surface. Santa Anita announced last month that it will install a Cushion Track surface this summer, which will be used for the first time at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting that begins in late September.