By Bill Heller
It’s hard to imagine a trainer more enthusiastic about Tapeta racing coming to New York on September 18th when the new Belmont Park opens than dual Hall of Famer Mark Casse, who’s in the middle of a spectacular Saratoga meet behind his superstar fillies Nitrogen and Counting Stars. Casse, the leading trainer at Woodbine, is seventh all-time in earnings (more than $280 million) and 16th all-time in victories (more than 4,000).
Casse thinks Tapeta will greatly benefit the New York breeding industry and is backing that up with commitments to buy more New York-breds, maintain a year-round stable in New York at Belmont for the first time, and participate in the Trillium Series for New York-breds and Canadian-foaled horses at Woodbine and Belmont Park.
Casse, who is also the Chairman of the Ocala Breeders Sales Company, has always been a proponent of Tapeta, the synthetic surface invented by retired, renowned trainer and Steeplechase Hall of Famer Michael Dickinson and his wife, Joan Wakefield. Developed specifically to improve horse safety, Tapeta, composed of a mixture of silica, sand, wax and fibers, was first used at Presque Isle Downs and Golden Gate Fields in 2007 and is now used at Turfway Park, Gulfstream Park, Woodbine and several tracks in Europe. In less than two months there will also be racing at Belmont Park over the Tapeta surface.
Casse is thrilled with that new opportunity. “I’ve probably run more horses on Tapeta than anyone in North America, maybe in the world,” Casse said Monday. “Horses were not bred to run on the dirt. They were bred to run on the grass, and Tapeta is as close to grass as you can get.
“Horses that like the grass don’t like to penetrate the dirt surface very much. On turf, they bounce over it. That’s what Tapeta does. That’s been my experience. I’d say about 90 percent of the Tapeta horses like the turf and vice versa. I think it’s a big deal for New York to have it at Belmont.”
He explained, “Until now, it’s been a six- to seven-month season. It’s been frustrating. It’s one of the reasons I’ve steered away from buying New York-breds. This is really going to help the New York-breds even more than they know. They’re going to reap benefits from it. We are now looking at more New York-breds for that reason. This year, for the first time, I’m going to have a 30- to 40-horse New York division at Belmont all year long.”
Asked if he’ll be participating in the Trillium Series, he said. “Absolutely. I think we nominated about 20 horses.”
Casse and Dickinson have been talking about Tapeta for a long time: “I’ve known Michael forever. His wife, Joan, she’s a big part of it as well. We believe in it so much. At OBS, we are huge believers in Tapeta. One of the nice things is it can take a lot of pressure off the horses. We may breeze 250 horses a day in the sales. They’re all breezing on Tapeta at OBS. The other nice thing about Tapeta is it handles all types of weather. That’s another real plus.”
Unveiling and improving Tapeta has been Dickinson’s mission for decades, one he continues as president of Tapeta Footings. Born in Yorkshire, England, he’s in the Guiness Book of World Records for training 12 winners in a single day in 1982. In 1983, he made the Guiness Book again by training the top five finishers in the 1983 Cheltenham Gold Cup.
In North America, Dickinson pulled off one of the greatest training feats of all time when his Da Hoss won a second Breeders’ Cup Mile with only one race off a two-year-layoff in 1998.
Dickinson began training in the U.S. at Fairhill Training Center in Maryland in 1987 before opening his Tapeta Farm on the north end of Chesapeake Bay in 1996. He developed his first version of Tapeta a year later and founded Tapeta Footings in 2005. Dickinson said it took him four years and 53 different samples to produce the original Tapeta. There have been nine improved versions, the last being Tapeta 10, which is what has been installed at Belmont.
The Jockey Club Injury Database claims synthetic surfaces are 50 percent safer than dirt, but that pertains to older synthetics. Dickinson has never stopped improving Tapeta.
On June 14th, 2014, the Equine Veterinary Journal published the results of a ten-year study of stress fractures from lameness in 1,075 horses. Fractures at Tapeta Farm were two percent, compared to 14 percent and 27 percent over two other surfaces.
According to Dickinson, two Tapeta 10 tracks in the United Kingdom, Newcastle and Wolverhampton, have had zero fatalities from 8,799 starters.
In 2023, Dickinson was honored with the 33rd John W. Galbreath Award for Outstanding Entrepreneurship in the Equine Industry by the University of Louisville Equine Industry Program.
Getting Tapeta at the new Belmont Park is a major accomplishment for Dickinson, who attended the first day of training on Tapeta at Belmont Park on June 29th. “We’re delighted with the track,” Dickinson said that day. “The benefits of Tapeta are safety and consistency, The surface will vary a little bit with the weather, but it won’t vary as much as turf or dirt. In my experience as a trainer, I would always train them on Tapeta because you always knew what you were going to get.”
The one-mile Tapeta track is one of four newly constructed racing surfaces at Belmont Park, joining the 1 ½-mile dirt track and two turf courses.
Trainer Mark Hennig was the first to work horses on Tapeta at Belmont Park on June 29th. His two horses, Private Flight, under exercise rider Ricardo Fragoso, and Mo Kreesa, with Cirilo Paredes riding, hit the track at 5:35 a.m. “The riders were pleased with the way they galloped and said it was like they were on a very soft cloud – it was like galloping on air,” Hennig said afterwards. “The Tapeta track offers horses a change of pace. It’s good when we can change things up mentally for them: one day on, one day to the main track, one day to the training track, and one day turned out in the round pen. It’s a great experience for the horses. If we can throw new days and experiences for them, I think it keeps them brighter and happier in the long run.”
A month later, Hennig said of the experience, “It was kind of cool. It was nice. The Tapeta has tightened up a little bit since that initial day. It was a long time waiting for it to open. It was a welcome sight.”
Hennig said he did get to talk with Dickinson that first day: “He’s definitely seen it through. He’s got a real passion for it.”
Casse does too.
