Toronto, ON (SportsNetwork.com) – Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG) announced
Wednesday that Woodbine Race Track’s current Polytrack main surface will be
replaced with a Tapeta synthetic track for 2016.
“At Woodbine, it’s in our mandate to act in the best interests of horse racing
and a regular, thorough examination of our track surfaces is paramount in that
pursuit,” said Jim Lawson, Chairman of the Board, Woodbine Entertainment
Group. “We went through an exhaustive consultation exercise in our search for
the new main track. It’s clear that Tapeta is the next generation of horse
racing surfaces that we’ll be proud to unveil in April of 2016.”
Replacement of the Polytrack surface with Tapeta will begin on Dec. 1, 2015.
Pending Ontario Racing Commission approval, the four December dates, scheduled
for the first week of the month, will be moved to Thursdays in November.
Closing day for the 133-date meet is set for November 29.
“A surface that will endure racing and training through hot and cold climate
extremes for more than eight months a year is critical for our horsepeople,”
said Lawson. “We also considered racing fans and horseplayers through this
process. Field size, the number of quality races and wagering on Woodbine’s
thoroughbred racing product has grown appreciably in the synthetic track era.
We see those metrics continuing to improve with the installation of Tapeta.”
