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OFF TRACK FEBRUARY 28, 2009 Track Superintendent by Jordan Strickler Just as you were beginning to sigh in relief that you would never have to ever see one of my articles again, I come back. I'm sorry to disappoint, but the curiosity of Ken from Ann Arbor, Michigan, also grabbed mine with his suggestion of a track superintendent. Thanks to my many antics in grade school and up, I've met several superintendents, so the prospect of speaking to another had me a little on edge. However Keeneland's Mike Young was very pleasant to talk to. So what exactly does a track superintendent do? "We sit, we don't really do anything," Young said. After getting Young's mailing address so I could send him my resume, we continued. The primary job of people like Young is to supervise and coordinate all the activities which happen on the track and on the grounds. This ranges from supervising the cutting of the grass to track renovations and care and maintenance of Keeneland's grounds. Keeneland has approximately 1,000 acres and more than 40 barns as well as the main track and training track that all fall under the care of Young. He starts his work around 6:30 a.m. (ET), getting employee work lists prepared for the day. The main duties center around the two tracks over which training takes place. "Training lasts from about 5:30 till 11," Young said. "When training is over, we'll decide whether we need to run a Gallop Master over it or work it up deeper. It's really simple to be honest. Just make sure it's ready for the next day." A Gallop Master is used to work the Polytrack, which is Keeneland's main racing surface. Pulled behind a tractor, the Gallop Master is equipped with depth adjusters fitted to either side of the tool frame. The frame has rollers both in the front and back which allow the Gallop Master to continuously level the track surface. Between the rollers are things called tines, which eliminate the previous footprints and provide the final, finished surface. The Gallop Masters come in different widths to allow the tractors to run on different lanes of the track so they do not create isolated areas of compact footing. "On an average day, I use one piece," Young explains, meaning one tractor and one Gallop Master. "During a race meet, I'll use more because I just feel like when we do run a Gallop Master around the track, I want to make it as fair as I can, so I'll send them all the way across, so if somebody runs out in the middle of the track, they can't say it's different." Young says that the best part of his job is that he is always doing something different. From making the lists for workers on training days to observing the track conditions on race days to maintaining the landscape around the Lexington, Kentucky, facility, a track superintendent's job never gets old. "You've got something to do every day," Young told me. "You have people who work for you and you just make sure they do what they've got to do. If something's wrong you just have to be ready for it. The toughest part is trying to please everybody." The new Polytrack added another twist to the game. Hailed as the next great innovation in racing surfaces, synthetic materials were supposed to make maintaining a track easier for all involved. So does it? Although the Polytrack has made life easier due to the lack of daily watering required and the lack of drying out a wet track during periods of rain, the increases in other types of care needed results in about the same amount of time caring for the track. When superintendents get into trouble is when they think that the track can take care of itself. Keeneland's Polytrack is made of 80 percent sand with the rest comprising a mixture of rubber, carpet fiber and jelly cable. Jelly cable is the insulation off of foam telephone wire. If you have ever been to Keeneland, or have seen a synthetic surface, they are the colored specks you find scattered across the track. "I hate the word 'synthetic,'" Young stated. "It's still 80 percent sand. There are a lot of people who say dirt tracks are more pure, but there aren't many dirt tracks in this country that are more than 80 percent sand when you start taking the silt and the clay and bark and different things to them." Young was among the first of a growing club of track superintendents who managed both a dirt and synthetic surface track. Possibly one of the biggest benefits of synthetic tracks is their ability to drain water, therefore eliminating the need to run over a sloppy track. "Dirt tracks can change so much. A little water doesn't hurt it, but you get quite a bit of water and it gets muddy. You're going to have an off track and even when a track starts drying out, it's going to be off because that's normally when it will get slower. It's got moisture in it, but it's drying." In order to keep the moisture from getting down into the tracks, supers would "seal" the track so that when the rain stopped, the water would drain off and it would dry quicker and be in better shape for upcoming races. And just for the record, Young says that despite the widespread gossip from handicappers across the nation, track supers do not make the tracks different for certain days. "I don't think any of us do that, but we get blamed for it." Then how do I keep losing? We can't conclude without talking about that other surface -- grass. Grass courses are usually cut around 4 inches. In the middle of Keeneland's meet, however, the mower is not quite as effective due to divots and so forth, so by the end of the two-week meet the grass could reach around 6 inches. Anything higher than 6 inches, however, could lead to adverse affects because divots, which accumulate throughout the meet, are not as visible and could result in possible injury to the horses. The grass should be left short enough where things can be seen going on beneath the surface. Another of Young's duties is to decide when exactly a race should be taken off the turf due to rain and run on the main track. Sometimes, Young even gets a jockey to go out on the track for him to relay his opinion to the grounds crew. Usually Keeneland's turf course would need to get around 1 1/2 inches of rain before making the surface soft enough where the decision is made to switch surfaces. Most people would say the most rewarding part of their job is 5 p.m.. How about you Mike? "The most rewarding part is when you go through the day and nothing happens. Everybody is safe -- jocks, horses -- and you go through the whole race meet and nothing happens. Nobody's patting you on the back or nobody's telling you anything. You know everything's going good. Just knowing you have a part of it." Well, that sounds good to me. Is there a racing occupation you would like to know more about? Don't go bugging that respective individual about his or her job duties. Let me do it for you. Bugging people has been a strong point of mine for years. If there is a job dealing with racing that makes you think "Just what in the heck does he do?," send me an e-mail at jordan.strickler@brisnet.com and I will try to find out for you.
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