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Originally Posted by Bigsmc
St. Augustine looks hearty, but it is not. My 50lb kids ruin my yard with their foot traffic. I can only imagine how many races a St. Augustine turf course would last under half ton horses.
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I was half joking about the St. Augustine as it is a common grass in New Orleans. But it gets too clumpy to be raced upon.
But the stuff can be very durable, depending on which variety is used. I resod parts of my yard with the Sapphire variety and once it spread, it held up to human and canine traffic. It held up much better than other varieties, in particular Del Mar. The downside is it gets so thick that it gets a big buildup of thatch when it starts going dormant in the winter.
I can't remember Fair Grounds having as many problems with its turf course 20 years ago. The problems predate Katrina, so that can't be blamed. Who knows what the root of the problem is, but the course looks like a beach for too much of the meet.