LEXINGTON, Ky. - Artificial turf is coming to Keeneland Race Course.

The track's board of directors has instructed its management to continue the planning, design and engineering necessary to install Polytrack next summer, Keeneland president Nick Nicholson said Wednesday.

Nicholson said work will begin in May, after the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville. The Keeneland fall meeting -- next October -- would be run on the new surface.

Keeneland would become the second track in North America to switch from a standard dirt racing surface to Polytrack -- a blend of fibers, recycled rubber and silica sand covered with a wax coating. About seven inches of the mixture is put over a base of rough stones, which allows water to drain downward rather than running toward the rail.

Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., installed Polytrack earlier this year and used it for a monthlong meet that ended Oct. 6. Keeneland is a half-owner of Turfway Park.

Lingfield Park and Wolverhampton Racecourse -- both in England -- also use Polytrack, which was created by English horseman Martin Collins.

Keeneland installed Polytrack on its training track in September 2004, and the track's intention to use Polytrack on its main surface has been an open secret ever since.

"The track had to prove itself," Nicholson said. "It was what we hoped would happen and it was the reason we got into it. The track had to show it was everything we hoped it would be and so far it has.

"We think it is the future of racing."

Only a handful of North American tracks have tried artificial racing surfaces. Before Turfway, the most recent was Remington Park in Oklahoma City, which opened in 1988 using an all-weather surface known as Equitrack. Remington switched to a dirt track in 1991 after some horsemen complained that Equitrack melted in Oklahoma's heat.

Turfway president Bob Elliston said he has received "universal praise" from trainers and jockeys about Polytrack, something he said is rare in the racing industry.

"I'm still looking for the person who isn't happy about their experience racing over it," Elliston said. "I don't think I'll find that person."

Prominent trainers including Patrick Biancone are using Turfway Park's track for training during Keeneland's current meet.

"They tell us that their horses take to the surface very well and that it's kinder to their horses," Elliston said. "They feel that their horses are able to compete on the surface. It's truly a fair surface without noticeable bias."

Added Nicholson: "If you ask most people about the problems in the industry, they say two things -- short fields and premature retirements because of injury. Here is one step that deals with both of those major issues."

Elliston said representatives from "more than 10 tracks," which he declined to identify, had either visited Turfway or asked the track for more information about Polytrack since the surface was installed.

"They are very intrigued about the surface," he said.