Del Mar plans to switch to dirt surface in 2015

So much for the grand experiment of having synthetic surfaces for horse racing in Southern California.

The last holdout, Del Mar, plans to switch to a dirt surface in 2015, track president Joe Harper said Wednesday.

After that, the only remaining synthetic track in the state will be Northern California’s Golden Gate Fields.

Santa Anita switched back to dirt in 2010. Hollywood Park has closed, and Los Alamitos and Fairplex already have dirt surfaces.

In 2006, the California Horse Racing Board mandated that all the main thoroughbred tracks install a synthetic surface by the end of 2007 in an attempt to improve safety. More than $40 million was spent on the effort.

But horsemen complained about the synthetic surfaces, and maintenance problems arose.

“Let’s just call it a grand experiment,” said Dr. Rick Arthur, equine medical director for the horse racing board. “I don’t think it was worth $40 million, but what positive has come from this is we understand more about racing surfaces today than ever before. I still consider synthetics promising. They were a novel technology and weren’t ready for the heavy use we get in U.S. racing surfaces.”

Harper said Del Mar will begin looking for the right dirt materials and start the permit process toward gaining a dirt track by 2015.

“We do like synthetic and still like synthetic, but one of the main reasons we put it in was because all the tracks were putting it in,” Harper said.

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com