Michael Dickinson, designer of the Tapeta footings racing surface and trainer of numerous Group/Grade I winners, is retired from racing and put his training center - farm - house for sale. Check it out:
http://www.tapetafarmforsale.com/
If you haven't already, I suggest taking a few minutes to browse through the Gallery that's linked just below the top row of photos. Some beautiful pictures in there!
He convinced the Dubai rulers to install Tapeta on their new Meydan track, which will be used for next year's Dubai World Cup.
Dickinson's Tapeta Farm
Moderators: Roguelet, hpkingjr, WaveMaster
-
Sylvie Hebert
- Restricted Stakes Winner
- Posts: 778
- Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2004 12:19 pm
- Location: canada
it always was top of the line facility and Tapeta surface is absolutly wonderful,i wonder why tracks don't install it instead of the other problematic synthetic tracks...
The sport and industry survive not only because of the champions that are remembered forever but also because of the losers that are so easy to forget...
Fencing has always been a big concern of mine. There's a picture in that gallery of 2 horses walking down the fence line. It's obviously wooden posts, but is that electric tape, or what? I've never seen electric tape on wood before 
"Most people hate the taste of beer to begin with. It is, however, a prejudice that many people have been able to overcome."-Winston Churchill
The pictures in the next to last row and the last row of the car alongside the horses galloping bring back a lot of memories. I have been to workouts at Keeneland, Pimlico, Laurel, and Bowie racetracks and you are basically stationary and watch the horses like you do in a horse race. At Tapeta, Michael would load you into a vehicle and you would be catapulted alongside the horses as they breezed while he called out times and instructions to the riders via walki-talkie.
You can get the same visual effect when you see the camera view of War Chant's Breeders Cup mile - but there is nothing like the excitement of being alongside a horse running at top speed live. The only thing better would be if you were riding them.
You can get the same visual effect when you see the camera view of War Chant's Breeders Cup mile - but there is nothing like the excitement of being alongside a horse running at top speed live. The only thing better would be if you were riding them.
toadie wrote:Fencing has always been a big concern of mine. There's a picture in that gallery of 2 horses walking down the fence line. It's obviously wooden posts, but is that electric tape, or what? I've never seen electric tape on wood before
I know alot of people put electric tape over their wood fence to keep horses from chewing it. Even if they aren't cribbers they will still chew on a fence (look at mine
) We wish we had done it to ours."We are the people our parents warned us about" - Jimmy Buffett
"My occupational hazard is that my occupation is just not around" - Jimmy Buffett
"My occupational hazard is that my occupation is just not around" - Jimmy Buffett