Attard: Belmont's Tapeta Surface `Intriguing'

Having saddled more than 500 winners on synthetic surfaces in his multiple graded stakes-winning career, Kevin Attard said his interest was piqued last week when the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) said in a release it would be utilizing an all-weather Tapeta track as its exclusive winter racing surface at the new Belmont Park when it opens in 2026.

“It's definitely something I've contemplated for a bit now. The fact that a synthetic track is going in there is a little bit more enticing for myself and I'm sure for a lot of other Canadians,” said the trainer who is based primarily at Woodbine. “It's a lot closer to home than Florida and you don't have to worry about the climate change for your horses. I think it's something we'll have to explore and hopefully have a string of horses up there when the Tapeta opens up.”

Attard usually winters in Florida following the end of the meet in Toronto which spans April to December, but he said an option that's closer to home in both distance and climate is intriguing.

“The Tapeta in Florida and the Tapeta at Woodbine are different–weather plays a big role in how it plays,” Attard said. “I think until it's there and people figure it out and get a hold of it, it's hard to say how horses will transition from one Tapeta to another. Some of them are a lot tighter than others–you would assume the track in New York, with a climate that is similar to Woodbine here in Toronto–that the tracks would be pretty similar. So, it might be an easier transition for our horses to go from here to New York.”

Construction at Belmont Park

The one-mile Tapeta oval currently under construction at the new Belmont Park will mark a third racing surface at the modernized facility along with the traditional outer dirt main track and two turf courses. Belmont Park also offers a year-round dirt training track and a Tapeta pony track as additional options for training horses.

“I've seen some sketches of the new Belmont Park, and it looks like it's going to be a state-of-the-art facility,” Attard said. “Eventually, it will have three surfaces at one place and that's exciting. There's a lot of history there and change is something that's hard to accept, but the sport is evolving, and we all need to evolve around it.”

NYRA's shift from dirt to Tapeta through the winter months is expected to enhance equine safety and provide additional opportunities for the year-round horse population.

Attard said he was pleased to see that the new Belmont Park, like Woodbine, will offer a variety of training options as it is a key component to how he manages his sizable string.

“At Woodbine, we also have a dirt surface to train over and we're fortunate in that sense,” Attard said. “We use both surfaces and try to balance it out a little bit because I think they use different muscle groups training over Tapeta and training over dirt and that's why you get two different types of injuries over the surfaces.”