Turf Paradise Pauses Use of Grass Course

Two days into a delayed meet that began Jan. 4, Turf Paradise has suspended use of its grass course for an estimated 2 1/2 weeks, effective Jan. 6, according to the track's general manager, Vince Francia. In a social media post on Twitter, Francia wrote that jockeys have assured him that racing on the turf is safe but that horses are digging up the course. The turf was not maintained in 2020 as it had been previously when the track ended its meet this past spring with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Until the last few months, there was uncertainty whether Turf Paradise would race this winter amid COVID-19 and following disagreements with state horsemen representatives. "When we closed March 14 we shut everything down, including watering the turf course," Francia wrote. "Generally we continue watering the course during the summer, giving us a base Bermuda grass when we open in the fall and plant the rye. "The two grasses keep the turf course lush and deeply rooted. Just one grass, the rye by itself, cannot do the job of two grasses, as we now see. We could continue to race on the turf as is, but it would quickly become unraceable and unsafe, and we'd have to go off the turf for a month." The track aims to strengthen the course in the coming weeks with an injection of liquid iron, seeding with more rye, nitrogen treatment, and regular watering, Francia added. Turf Paradise raced three times on the turf Jan. 4-5, averaging 9.7 starters per race. It has averaged 8.6 starters in its Thoroughbred dirt races. The track's turf course consultant "feels this is the best chance to get the turf back in the shortest amount of time, and then keep us on it till the end of the race meet," Francia wrote of the season that concludes May 1. "I'm sorry this decision will cause disappointment with horsemen who had to get their horses ready for the turf. Equally so I feel for our horseplayers who enjoy betting grass horses." The Phoenix track has attracted a supply of horses this winter from California and New Mexico in part from racing being on hold at Sunland Park and Golden Gate Fields due to COVID-19. Also racing at Turf Paradise this winter is trainer Marcus Vitali, who had his first starter since 2019 on Jan. 4 when Be Gone Daddy ran third in the Hank Mills Sr. Stakes. A series of suspensions for medication and rule violations have sidelined Vitali, including a one-year suspension in Delaware for impeding a racing investigation. This week Vitali has two Wednesday entries at Turf Paradise followed by one Jan. 8 and another Jan. 11.