Del Mar main track closed Thursday, racing on schedule

The Del Mar main track was closed for training on Thursday morning, a day after the track’s opening card, but live racing was on schedule for the afternoon.

Del Mar Director of Racing Tom Robbins said track superintendent Richard Tedesco and his crew spent the morning mixing the synthetic Polytrack surface after some materials separated in overnight maintenance.

“They’re finishing it up right now,” Robbins said a little less than four hours before the 2 p.m. PDT post time for the first race. “That’s what it needed.”

The track was closed shortly after training hours began early Thursday because of inconsistent areas, particularly in the stretch.

“We believed we wouldn’t need to get in and do our rototilling until this coming Monday, but now it appears we overestimated how long we could go without turning the track fully over,” Del Mar President Craig Fravel said in a press release. “We’ll rototill this morning and be back on schedule in time to race today.”

Trainer Bob Baffert observed Wednesday that the track was deep when champion Lookin At Lucky worked six furlongs. Baffert said the track was like quicksand.

Trainer Julio Canani said Thursday that he had been satisfied with the surface since his stable arrived.

“It’s been fine, no horses have broken down or anything,” Canani said. “I don’t know what’s going on [Thursday], but I haven’t had any problems.”

Tedesco, also the track superintendent at Santa Anita Park, replaced Steve Wood at Del Mar this year.

Many horsemen have complained since Polytrack was installed at Del Mar in 2007 that the surface has varied, often changing from mornings to afternoons.

With Tedesco at the helm, Del Mar began turning and loosening the surface over each night starting on July 10 in a procedure called power harrowing, to try to ensure consistency for training hours.

In rototilling, equipment digs deeper into the surface for a complete remix.