Watering racecourses - how do clerks of the course decide what is needed? | Trainer Magazine | European Trainer Article Index

Jun 26

Jun 26 Watering racecourses - how do clerks of the course decide what is needed?

WE have all heard the old proverb “there are three important factors in horseracing: the ground, the ground and the ground”. Clerks are often criticised for watering too much or not enough. In some cases the critical voices are well founded, in others they are strongly biased, and in quite a few they are coming from people who have little or no experience with maintenance of turf racecourses. For instance, after a mild winter the grass will not be as strong as after a winter with plenty of frost in the ground, meaning that what was a good policy for watering one year might not be the best policy twelve months later – even under what, at the time, seems to be similar circumstances. Only after the meetings, or at best when a few of the first races have been run, do we really know the true state of the ground. The official ground conditions are always published prior to the first race, based on the assessment made by the clerk, with or without the help of a penetrometer / going stick. This leads us to another interesting question. Does the penetrometer ‘talk differently’ when used on a course that has been artificially watered, than on a course that has been softened by natural rain? After all, watering of a course should ensure an even distribution of water, while bands of rain sweeping across the course, following the wind, does not. Are the readings less meaningful after a thunderstorm? Agronomist Mike Harbridge of Professional Sports Turf Design in Preston, retained by a number of top racecourses in England, has plenty of experience with maintaining and preparing turf courses for watering. “The key to watering is that it is done uniformly, to make sure the ground is in a condition to take the watering”, he says, “and to put water on at a sensible rate. Most racecourse clerks want to put about 10mm on over the course of a normal working day.  whether they all have the right equipment to achieve that is another matter. “The preparation work is important. Head groundsmen will be spiking the ground, to ensure the water goes into the soil, and one can also apply wetting agents, which will help disperse the water. These agents, in a liquid form, have a life in the soil and need to be applied only three to four times a year. Again, this is about making sure the effect of watering is uniform.” Can artificial watering give more even ground than rain, which can come in bands, sweeping across flat heaths where racecourses are? “The best way for the ground to get water is natural rain”, Harbridge says, “but the problem is how evenly spread the rain is. For that reason, sometimes it makes perfect sense to water parts of the course even after a spell of rain. The clerk may well decide to water say, the last two furlongs on a day after rain, simply because the wind has pushed the band of rain in a direction so it missed that part of the course.” On the subject of how much, or how often, one should water, Harbridge says: “There is no simple answer to that. Trainers usually ask for more watering, rather than less watering, but it is a well-known fact that some courses have been declining in quality as a result of too much watering. Soil needs drying out to restructure, and dry periods are therefore crucial to the quality of the turf. It helps the roots develop. Also, when we talk about watering, one must not forget that watering policies should differ from year to year, as the quality of the grass depends on the climate year round, not just how the weather is playing in the summer. A cold winter gives us better, stronger turf, as the frost makes the roots go deeper. This gives the turf a natural softness, and it will not need as much water.” Rae Guest, a Newmarket trainer whose previous career as a jockey gave him experience of racing in places as different as India and Scandinavia, feels that the situation “has improved no end over the past five years in England.” On the subject of watering and the information on ground conditions, he says: “Racecourses are a lot better these days. Only up to as recently as five years ago, you more or less had to take the ground you got, but today we get good, mainly accurate information from the courses. If I am sending a horse to Scotland, I may phone the course at eight in the morning and get a report from the head groundsman or the clerk. You can’t ask for much more than that. Also, here in England the Weatherbys website is helpful, giving updated information on the ground and news of any watering. I feel it is important to water, as it provides safe ground. “Very few horses like hard ground. There will always be some who want it to stay firm but if courses allow hard courses to stay dry, they will get too many non-runners. There has to be a bit of give and take in this game. The biggest problem is when the weather plays havoc with us, and a course gets too much rain and too much watering. The English weather is unpredictable, and it’s nobody’s fault when these things happen. I rode a lot in India, and out there groundsmen have a straightforward job, compared to here, as they pretty much know what weather they will get over the next six months. The ground was fast, but easy to maintain and never too firm. I also rode for a good few years in Scandinavia, where there seemed to be too much racing on the turf courses, compared to what facilities one had to maintain good conditions.” Tom Tate, trainer of both flat and National Hunt horses and a former amateur jumps rider, feels that the information he gets from racecourses is still not always accurate. “They tend to tell you what they know you would like to hear”, he says on the subject of obtaining information regarding the ground, “and as a trainer you must learn to know which way they lean.” Tate also explains that there are racecourses he avoids racing at because he does not have enough confidence in the ground maintenance. “This is all about experience”, he says, “and so is the clerk’s job. The decision to water or not water can be a very difficult one.” “The going description is fundamentally the most important area for any horse running”, says Michael Prosser, clerk of the course at Newmarket. “Communicating the likely going on the day of racing to the trainers, owners, press and the public is critical.” Prosser goes on to explain that in England, clerks are obliged under a BHA rule to aim for good-to-firm ground in flat racing and good ground in National Hunt racing. The track at Saint-Cloud is regarded as one of the best in the world “When irrigation is necessary, I would analyse all the relevant factors before reaching a decision on the quantity of water that we are going to apply to the track”, Prosser says. “Weatherman John Ketley provides Newmarket with a bespoke weather forecast”, he tells us, “and this is helpful but Newmarket can be a tricky area. Often the rain hits either side of the town and misses the best part of the racecourse. A few years ago I had an interesting experience, as, ahead of a raceday, I was out on the course when heavy rain set in. Most of Newmarket was absolutely drenched, while I was standing by the seven-furlong marker, in 27 degrees and beautiful sunshine. William Haggas phoned me there and then, to find out how much the rain in the area had affected the course. Well, in this case, nothing at all.” Prosser has a lot of turf to look after, more than at most other racecourses, but he also has the right equipment. “Around a quarter of a million was spent on upgrading the watering system here a few years ago”, he says, “and we are fortunate enough to have two watering booms, meaning that we can apply 8mm of water to two one-mile strips simultaneously. Such a job takes eight hours, so with just one boom sprayer, applying 8mm to two miles would take 16 hours. Water is applied straight down, but the wind can still get hold of it and make the job difficult.” John Hammond, who has been training n Chantilly for the past 22 years, has some enlightening comments when we talk about ground conditions and watering in France compared to his native England. “A myth has developed in England”, he says, “making people believe that the ground is often softer here in France than it actually is. Much of the reason is that the word ‘souple’ is translated as ‘soft’ in the Racing Post (the literal translation is ‘supple’). ‘Très souple’ is indeed soft, but curiously ‘assez souple’ is more like good to firm. Clearly something has been ‘lost in translation’ over the years. The going descriptions at courses like Longchamp and Saint-Cloud are generally accurate. Personally I feel they get the watering right far more often than they get it wrong, with maybe Longchamp in mid-summer being the exception – it can get too firm there. I have been fortunate to have had horses to run in many different countries and the track at Saint-Cloud, particularly, is as good if not better than you will find anywhere in the world. It is brilliantly maintained for the amount of racing t here.” ON the subject of times as a tool to assessing the ground during racing, Hammond explains that “the times are relevant in France if you want to get an idea of the true ground conditions. If you average out the times for eight races a day on fixed readings, i.e. 3.2, 4.3 or whatever, over a number of years you have a real barometer. One of my owners has studied the times at the principal tracks here for the past ten years, and his conclusion is that the readings taken by the clerks are mostly correct and consistent.” Fellow trainer Tony Clout takes a different view on the latter point but he agrees with Hammond regarding the quality of the turf at Saint-Cloud. “It is clearly the course with the best ground in France”, he explains. “It is on the top of a hill with a good surface. They tend to water less than they used to.” Talking about Longchamp, Clout says: “It dries out quickly, and is not so easy to maintain. Actually, it is easy to get too firm ground at Longchamp. Comparing these courses to English courses, I would say that in England they have what I call natural ground. English clerks seem to leave the ground more as it is. There is a tendency to water too much in France. Watering should only be done to help root growth, not to make the ground soft. Also, I feel very strongly about when to water. The less watering during the last 24 hours prior to racing the better, and I believe there should be no watering the last 12 hours before racing.” The penetrometer readings have been debated, and Clout says: “I am against the penetrometer. It is a very useful tool for a clerk, but he should keep the readings to himself. Readings are taken early in the morning, and by racetime, sometimes at 5pm, the ground may have changed considerably. Another side to this is that readings are different from course to course, and they are different when the grass is growing compared to when the grass is not growing, and also they differ at various times of the year. Publishing these readings can be misleading.”  Clout trains mainly flat horses but also has a few jumpers, and he defends Auteuil, a venue that has come in for some criticism regarding watering policies. “Auteuil is unusual”, he says, “with poor underground. Remember, we have a road under the course, probably a bit of the Metro too. The course is difficult to maintain. It is overused and it is being used a lot at difficult times of the year. Less use at the beginning and the end of the season would be beneficial. But it is a course that needs watering to stay in good shape, there is no doubt about that.” The issue of watering of racecourses surely is a complex matter. So many factors, of direct and indirect nature, play their part, such as the climate throughout the year, changing weather situations, failing weather forecasts, which are just a few of the bits a clerk has to live with. Then we have the possibility of conflicts between rules and regulations and the different views, feelings and interests of trainers, owners and jockeys. To a common racing journalist and handicapper, this subject appears to be one where there will never be any solid answers. Understanding seems to be the key word

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(European Trainer - issue 26 - Summer 2009)

Jun 26 Armando Renzoni - 3 decades as a top racehorse trainer

Jun 26 The Long Road to Freedom - transport regulations, and why racehorses should be treated differently