The Tapeta track at Dubai's Meydan racecourse is to be replaced by dirt for the start of next season.

The brainchild of former trainer Michael Dickinson, Tapeta has been the artificial surface in place since racing began at Meydan four years ago.

Dirt was previously used at Dubai's former flagship racecourse, Nad Al Sheba, and Meydan's board of directors have decided to switch back ahead of next year's Dubai Carnival.

"This is a decision that will be best for the future of Meydan racing and the Dubai World Cup Carnival," Saeed H Al Tayer, chairman and chief executive officer of the Meydan Group, said.

Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum expressed his concerns about the Tapeta track at Meydan this year's World Cup in which his horse Mukhadram subsequently ran second.

"Not all horses give their best on the surface where the ground conditions change every few metres," he told the Gulf News.

"New horses to the surface shorten their strides and don't stretch naturally.

"It is also inconsistent. It's slow in the morning and faster in the evening. I believe they add 20 per cent of cushion each year but that makes it very shallow.

"It was a good track in the first year, but has changed in recent years.

"The race is not as strong as it used to be and that's because the Americans are not here."

Dickinson said he was disappointed to hear the track would revert to dirt.

"It is a step backwards," he told sportinglife.com,au.

"It is sad that we have already lost two Polytracks in the USA and now we are losing yet another synthetic track at Meydan.

"The USA is the only major racing nation who race on dirt. When the Dubai World Cup was on dirt it was only ever won by the USA and the UAE, it was not a World Cup.

"Since it has been run on Tapeta the winners have come from four different countries including Animal Kingdom from the USA.

"On two occasions there were only 7 runners on dirt and last year on Tapeta there were 16 runners and overfilled.

"On Dubai World Cup night of 2014 the six Tapeta races were won by six different countries, it was fair, formful and above all safe."