DEL MAR ---- The annual thoroughbred meet at Del Mar will come to an end late Wednesday afternoon, and it has become painfully apparent that Polytrack isn't the answer to all of the industry's ills.

That's not to say it was advertised that way, but it certainly was the feeling you got three years ago when Polytrack was installed.

The truth is everyone ---- trainers, maintenance workers, track officials and handicappers ---- is still trying to figure out synthetic surfaces.

And what everyone wants is a safe and consistent surface. Unfortunately that hasn't happened yet, but it still may in the future.

There were 13 thoroughbreds euthanized this meet ---- 12 of them as a result of injuries on the Polytrack. That's too many and there were plenty of other injuries we don't know about.

There was plenty of grumbling on the backstretch this year. There were lots of whispers, but hardly anyone wants to go on the record with their complaints.

One trainer said he wouldn't be back next summer if there weren't some changes made to the track.

Now, Del Mar won't ---- and shouldn't ---- be held hostage by any trainer making such a statement. However, he should be heard loud and clear.

Changes need to be made. I don't know what they are, but track president Joe Harper promises there will be plenty of testing of the surface after the meet is over.

"You bet there is room for improvement," Harper said on Monday. "We're doing the right things. The complaints are just the nature of the beast."

Harper has met with trainers and organizations.

"There seems to be two or three camps," said Harper. "Some trainers just don't like it. Others like it just fine and others don't like synthetics, but don't want to go back to dirt."

But Harper will admit there is a difference between the Polytrack installed in 2007 and the one that was raced on this season.

"The track has changed," he said. "It's not the same track we put in. It's very susceptible to weather and temperature. I'm never happy until we have the safest track we can.

"None of us are experts on Polytrack. I think that comes from experimentation.

"We need to test to see if the fiber is gone or has the wax drifted down due to gravity.

"I guarantee something will be done."

Bill Casner, co-owner of WinStar Farm and Colonel John, loved Del Mar's track in 2007.

"The first year it was slow but safe," Casner said. "It was pretty good last year. This year it sounds like a herd of buffalo down there on the track."

Harper thinks that is a fair assessment.

"Year 1 was the ideal, safe track," he said, "but the track was unacceptable because of the slowness. Last year, we tried to find some middle ground. This year it has changed."

The fashionable thing is to blame track superintendent Steve Wood, who had no experience with Polytrack when it was installed.

"Steve has done a good job of learning about the track," said Harper. "We've had people out from Keeneland and they say Steve is doing the right things, which makes me feel better."

It doesn't necessarily make handicappers happy who see a different track on Wednesday after two dark days and then the track seems to speed up the rest of the week. Or it doesn't make anyone happy when biases ---- whether they are speed, rally-wide, inside or outside ---- pop up out of nowhere and stick around for a few days.

In fact, Casner blames gamblers for getting Del Mar to speed up the track from the first year to the second.

"(Gamblers) love speed," Casner said. "It creates a competitive advantage. They can use their computer programs and stuff. The first year on the Polytrack you saw more horses competitive. All you had to do was look at the head of the lane and there were four, five and six horses across the track. The fields were compressed and that took the fun away from your whales (big bettors)."

And while betting makes the game go, the safety of the horse must come first.

Del Mar must find the happy medium between the first year and now. Horsemen must train their horses differently, not put as much stress on young horses or older, cheap war horses, and horsemen must get to the seaside oval earlier to get their animals used to the surface change. Seven deaths this year in the first two weeks of the meet was unacceptable on all levels.

"We will be having a lot of meetings with different horsemen about all of these issues," said Harper. "We have to try to get everyone's input on this."

The answers need to come soon while there is still a sport worth saving and enjoying.

Contact staff writer Jeff Nahill at 760-740-3550.