07/14/2026
In 6 months this track has made a 180. It's on "track" to being one of the best looking racing surfaces around - just in time for thoroughbred season. Our client can be super proud of this.
Due to labor shortages and some large projects going on, the facility was having a difficult time deploying resources to provide the TLC the turf track required. When we took over 6 months ago, the track was nearly 100% w**d coverage. Today we're at about 0.5% w**d coverage. The turf is super thick and healthy. Only problem is the dallisgrass in some spots. 😡
We recently pulled 160 soil cores, 16 each from 10 sections - to get a real look at nutrients, organics, media, and root depth. We're averaging a pH of 6.3 which is great. Soil texture is heavy on the sand but tolerable, especially considering this is a race track. Roots were quite shallow, only 1.5-2 inches. So, we're working together with facility to reduce watering frequency but increase run-times which will improve root depth.
This struggle makes sense considering the heavy sand content. Sand dries out much quicker so the facility naturally responded by watering frequently. Reducing frequency will come with some temporary aesthetic pain but will result in a much better racing surface due to deeper roots.
Note; The drone shot is from a few months ago when we had some grassy w**d break-through. You can see our spray tech on the left side, the tiny dot in the middle of the track. 😆
