When horse trainer Bret Calhoun watches races on rainy days like Friday, it’s with both eyes covered.
“Like this,” he said as he covered his eyes with his hands and split his fingers just slightly.
Intermittent showers and storms will roll through Louisville both Friday and Saturday during the lead-up to the Kentucky Oaks race and the 150th Kentucky Derby.
The National Weather Service out of Louisville projected scattered showers and thunderstorms throughout Oaks Day.
Multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms are expected today through the weekend, although there will be multiple extended breaks in the rain over the next few days. Temperatures will remain warm, with highs in the 70s and 80s and lows in the 60s. #KYwx #INwx pic.twitter.com/QSJ5FxJo8H
— NWS Louisville (@NWSLouisville) May 3, 2024
But what does rain mean for the track at Churchill Downs?
Churchill moves a turf race to the dirt
By 8:30 a.m., Churchill Downs racing officials moved Race 4, a 9-furlong allowance optional claiming race with a 16-horse field, off the turf track to the dirt.
The other races scheduled for the turf track will be held as scheduled. Those stakes races are:
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Race 6: The Unbridled Sidney (14th running, Grade III)
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Race 8: The Modesty (67th running, Grade III)
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Race 10: The Edgewood (40th running, Grade II).
Why would a race be moved from the turf to the dirt?
Churchill Downs has had problems in previous meets with the turf track and horses slipping since it installed the $10 million turf course ahead of the 2022 Spring Meet.
During that meet, a 3-year-old colt named Gingrich broke down on the track. Churchill Downs suspended racing on the course for two weeks, following the breakdown so the course could “develop its new root system.”
In 2023, it moved all races carded for the turf to the dirt for the final three days of the fall meet when the thoroughbreds appeared to be losing footing on the surface. Multiple trainers told the Courier Journal that Churchill Downs spent the winter working on the turf course.
Thomas Van Berg, a trainer who is also on Churchill Down’s track advisory committee, told the Courier Journal in March: “Whether it was the horses slipping on the surface or surface slipping away from them, I never did get a definite answer on that, I didn’t run a single horse on the grass course last year because I wasn’t comfortable with it.”
Only a handful of races have run on the turf course since April 27, all without a problem. But like grass in a wide-open field, lots of water means mud, so trainers told the Courier Journal it will depend on the turf’s drainage system.
“The water makes the turf soft and then when they run on it, it tears,” Calhoun said. “When their hooves hit the ground, it peels (the turf) back.”
What does rain do to the dirt track at Churchill Downs?
If a track is dry and gets some rain, the water will run off of it. But what about a track that is already wet and gets more rain?
Dianne Volz has served as an equine therapist for 36 years, providing therapy to sore million-dollar athletes after workouts. She said the surface at Churchill Downs can take a lot of rain.
“If it stops raining, it’ll be dried out by the afternoon,” she said. “Churchill is a safe surface when it gets rain, normally. It must be the makeup of the dirt, because it drains well.”
Volz said depending on how the surface changes depends on how a horse’s body reacts.
Rain can cause the track to have a deeper step, which causes the horses to be slower, like a human running on a beach where the sand is packed versus closer to the water where the sand is soft.
“A deeper track will pull on soft tissue so their stifle, which is like our knee, can get pain and it can radiate into the low back,” Volz told the Courier Journal.
Some trainers Friday morning felt like the track was wet but horses were getting over it well. But one exclaimed, “What dirt? It looks like a pig pen.”
How does a wet track affect the horses?
“Well, once the hooves get into the track and the water gets down in the surface, it’ll take twice as long to dry off,” Calhoun said. “Some horses are going to struggle and not like it. Right now, one of the big factors will be the kickback, the spray of the water and mud. You may have a horse that doesn’t like it — and most of them don’t like it.”
Stephanie Kuzydym is an enterprise and investigative sports reporter, with a focus on the health and safety of athletes. She can be reached at skuzydym@courier-journal.com. Follow her at @stephkuzy.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky Derby 150: What a wet track means for horses
