It’s difficult to get away from talk of synthetic surfaces, whether it concerns racing in North America, Asia, Europe, or Dubai.

At this year’s Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs Nov. 4, a prominent European horseman said surfaces such as Polytrack would provide a “level playing field” for horses from around the globe, making the races truer world championships in which horses are not eliminated because they are racing on a surface new to them.

In Tokyo, at this year’s Japan Cup weekend program Nov. 25-26, a number of Japan Racing Association officials linked the absence of international horses for the Japan Cup Dirt (Jpn-I) to the sandy surface that most non-Japanese runners have not adapted to well in past years. “Polytrack may be the answer,” more than one said.

Indeed, the JRA is planning to install a Polytrack surface on one of its dirt tracks at the Miho Training Center north of Tokyo. Miho is the largest of the two JRA training centers. Installation is scheduled for October 2007. Officials will study the performance of the surface throughout the year and decide whether or not to use Polytrack, or a similar product, for racing at Tokyo Race Course and other JRA tracks. One of the biggest questions about synthetic surfaces has been how they hold up in extreme conditions. Woodbine near Toronto experienced recent problems with Polytrack during cold weather, and Hollywood Park had difficulty maintaining consistency with its Cushion Track surface recently when nighttime temperatures dropped in Southern California