Refurbished main track draws praise at Penn National

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Live racing returned to Penn National Race Course on October 31 with management, jockeys, and trainers giving high marks to the newly refurbished racing surface.

Racing at the Grantville, Pennsylvania, track ceased after the September 21 card for a complete renovation of the main track. Training resumed at Penn National on October 27.

The new, reddish-orange main track surface is a combination of clay, silt, and two types of sand, said Rob Marella, director of racing for Penn National.

Marella said resurfacing the track’s entire limestone base was the most time-consuming aspect of the project.

“It had been patched a few times and it looked like an old road,” Marella said.

Track officials laid a clay-based product commonly referred to as baseball diamond mix on top of the new limestone base. Marella said fine sand, designed to enhance the cushion, recently was added.

Jockeys Katie Lee and Jorge Tipa said they were pleased with the track during training hours and racing.

“I thought it was fair,” Lee said. “It’s apparent they did more work on the base. I was concerned Monday when it rained that some of the stone dust on the base might be coming up, but racing on it was beautiful. Nobody took any bad steps. Some of the clay sticks to you, but not much.”

“It’s a great track in comparison to the last,” Tipa said. “There aren’t any holes and I haven’t seen any horses stumble—80% of horses on the backstretch have trained over it.”

Winter weather is always problematic in Grantville, Pennsylvania, but Marella said officials are hopeful that the new surface and new maintenance equipment will lessen the number of cancellations.

Penn National received approval last month from the state’s Horse Racing Commission to run five-day weeks on a Tuesday-through-Saturday schedule for the remainder of the year with the exceptions of November 27 and December 24, 25, and 31. First post time is 6:45 p.m. EST.
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