U.S. dirt tracks kill horses at 3.5x the rate of synthetic surfaces

In 2022, U.S. dirt tracks recorded 1.44 fatalities per 1,000 starts versus just 0.41 on synthetic surfaces — a 3.5x difference. Over 2009-2022, dirt accounted for 6,036 deaths from 3.24 million starts (1.86/1,000) while synthetic saw 534 from 482,169 starts (1.11/1,000). Despite this overwhelming data, approximately 80% of U.S. races still run on dirt. Track owners resist synthetic conversion because retrofitting costs $5-10 million per track, dirt is culturally entrenched as the 'traditional American surface,' and owners fear that changing surfaces will alter competitive dynamics and alienate breeders who have optimized bloodlines for dirt racing. This persists structurally because track owners bear the capital cost of conversion but do not bear the cost of dead horses — fatality costs fall on owners and insurers, creating a misaligned incentive where the entity that could fix the problem has no financial reason to do so.