The Gallops - Searching for the ideal training surface | Trainer Magazine | European Trainer Article Index

Apr 4

Apr 4 The Gallops - Searching for the ideal training surface

One of the most significant unique selling points a European trainer can offer to stand out from the competition is a diversity of facilities. This might range from remedial and complementary therapies – such as spa, treadmill, or vibrating plate – to the quality or visual impression of the stabling, but perhaps the single largest area of diversity is the gallops. WORDS: OLLY STEVENS PHOTOS: CAROLINE NORRIS, SHUTTERSTOCK, JOCKEY CLUb ESTATES RECENTLY, Jeremy Gask, notable for being among the most forward-thinking and technologically advanced trainers, announced his move to Danebury Hampshire in order to, for the first time, benefit from the traditional: downland grass gallops. “While the turf is beautiful, it’s not so much about what’s under their feet, but the overall environment that Danebury offers that is so attractive,” Gask says. “Having relied solely on all very consistent and level all weather gallops for so long, we had found that horses could run pretty green early on in their careers and were often caught out by undulations or different ground conditions at the races.” This statement inherently brings up the ‘perfect paradox.’ Should we train a horse in the most perfect environment, balancing safety and soundness with maximising the level of fitness achievable, or embrace some imperfections in the training surface in order to better prepare for the varied nature of European tracks? Much of this will depend on context, and those with access to extensive facilities are in a position to cater very well to each horse’s particular needs. There are as many exceptions as there appear to be rules, with notable cases of trainers finding great success with modest facilities, and some strongly advocating the importance of hills and others level ground. Some may struggle to get to grips with new gallops after moving yards; one constantly hears the maxim, “It takes at least a year to learn new gallops,” yet there are numerous instances of trainers moving to new gallops and getting on just fine. There seems to be no one thing that works best. Trainers tend to passionately defend what they have to work with, as to admit doubt would by no means inspire confidence in owners. In stark contrast, trainers in the USA take what they are given, with many of them stabling at tracks that allot space on the basis of providing runners. Among the significant factors influencing where trainers base their stables are prize money, level of competition, and climate. Once the racing season ends at each venue, the “travelling circus” will continue, with the horses moving on to the next track that’s open for racing. This might seem irrelevant in the discussion of gallops in Europe, but there are several pertinent parallels: adjusting training to different surfaces, and how one might plan moves, especially with two-year-olds in mind, based on track surfaces. In the European training environment there is a vast diversity of gallop surfaces available. Consequently, there is an ever evolving thesis on which surfaces have relative merits or disadvantages in light of several key factors: safety, cardio-vascular conditioning, skeletal conditioning, cost, maintenance, and suitability for weather and geological conditions. Trainers with private facilities have to carefully consider the changes, both financial and operational, they make to gallops, yet they have the advantage of privacy, control, and less horse traffic. Those in training centres benefit from the diversity of gallop options available, a co-operative cost structure, and minimal management load but they lack the privacy and control, with surfaces tailored as much for their ability to handle traffic as for one’s own preference. Nick Patton, who manages the Jockey Club’s gallops in Newmarket and Wesley Ward uses Keeneland as his spring and summer base for his horses (left). The gallops on Newmarket’s Warren Hill are among the busiest in the world (below) Lambourn, recommends that trainers avail themselves of a great variety of gallops. He says, “It’s like going to the gym: a bit of rowing machine, a bit of exercise bike, some weights...which allow the trainer to adapt the work specifically to each horse’s needs.” When this is not possible, Patton suggests that private gallops can be maintained to suit certain horses by adjusting the maintenance. Owned by the Sangster Family, Manton is arguably Britain’s most revered training centre and offers perhaps the best of public and private training centres. The facilities horses on the bridle here.” Ger Lyons, by contrast, likes to keep things simple. “We have a three-furlong deep sand ring for day-to-day conditioning, while our six-furlong wood chip oval, with one-and-a-half-furlong straights, gives us enough for speed work. We never take a horse away to gallop and there are no hills at Glenburnie.” Some time ago Lyons felt the need to modernise and saw that a synthetic surface would cut out the burden of watering required by the sand and wood chips, but it was a decision that he would come to regret, saying, “It lasted maybe three months before I went back to what I knew. The gallop is an essential tool of the job, but it really is a case of finding what works for you or adapting to what you’ve got.” Despite this, Lyons has recently installed a 60x40-metre arena with a modern waxed surface. Here the ability to handle the extra traffic of horses repeatedly covering the same ground is a great asset, and it adds in the opportunity to achieve some “cross training.” Andrew Balding, who trains from historic Kingsclere in Britain, places great value on the variety that he is able to give horses, especially those with special requirements. While he is eager to point out the successes had by trainers who don’t benefit from such extensive facilities, Balding admits that he would hate to be without his downland turf gallops. “We would never use the same strip of ground twice in a year, giving the horses what I feel to be the safest and most natural environment for the necessary fast work that inherently carries greater risk than daily conditioning. I haven’t done any sort of indepth statistical review, but we do feel very strongly that this is the case. If I were to add have been constantly added to through the Sangster years, with input from Barry Hills and the relentless gallops pioneer Michael Dickinson. Manton is home to Brian Meehan and George Baker, and the duo have added successes at Royal Ascot and the Breeders’ Cup to Manton’s already impressive roll of honour. However, Baker suggests that these facilities need to be approached with care: “It would be very easy to do too much on these gallops, especially the downland turf. We very much encourage our riders to keep anything to our extensive gallops it would probably be another wood chip gallop to complement our two synthetics, fibresand, stiff wood chip, and turf, but I suppose the argument against that is that it might not take the sort of volume of traffic that we now have, something that our new synthetic track on the downs handles very well in all conditions.” In comparison, American trainers will, on the whole, be stabled where they find the right balance of string competitiveness, purse structure, track surface, and the cost of running a stable in that area. Some tracks have a separate training track, perhaps of a different surface, which provides options. Facilities are maintained by the racetrack in exchange for meeting a quota of runners, providing the track with gambling revenue. There are some training centres in the USA that provide notable exceptions, but these are costly compared to the option of free stabling at the track. But one benefit of training centres is that they allow freedom to ship to more tracks to race. The husband-and-wife team of Phil and ISSUE 53 TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM 55 TRAINING SURFACES Vicky Oliver, each of whom is individually a Grade 1-winning conditioner, train on Florida’s deep Payson Park oval in the winter, as do Roger Attfield, Bill Mott, and Shug McGaughey. For the rest of the year the Olivers stable at Keeneland in Kentucky, from where Vicky Oliver trainees Personal Diary raided Del Mar Racecourse in California to win the 2014 Del Mar Oaks and She’s Not Here the 2015 Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Handicap. The couple’s best year was 2014, when Keeneland’s main track was being rebuilt, leaving only a fivefurlong, synthetic-surface training oval upon which to carry out all levels of exercise. Vicky says, “Initially we were sceptical about only having access to the small track, having become accustomed to the eightand-a-half furlong main track at Keeneland and Payson’s excellent track, but necessity led us to our best-ever summer and made us question our previous approach. Perhaps we had been overtraining them before…” Needless to say, the Olivers have changed their approach, and the smaller track is now a significant part of their programme. Wesley Ward uses Keeneland – which offers the rare flexibility to train on dirt, synthetic, and turf – as his spring and summer base from which he has recorded several very assertive European Pattern successes. Keeneland stages some of the first juvenile races of the season and has the benefit of staying open as a training centre once the spring meeting has finished, allowing for consistency. Up until eighteen months ago, one might have been forgiven for thinking that the synthetic surface was a key part of this programme, but since the new dirt surface has been installed on the main track we saw another similarly dominant performance from a stateside raider when Ward’s Acapulco took the Group 2 Queen Mary at Royal Ascot in great style. She made a winning seasonal return on Turfway Park’s synthetic surface in February, showing her trainer’s ability to adapt to a range of surfaces. Design and construction There are many aspects – primarily layout, drainage, surface, and contractor – to consider when planning the build of a new gallop. The available space and contour of the land will have great influence on what form a gallop will take. Mark Kershaw, who was involved in the design of Ffos Las Racecourse in Wales and has managed a number of racecourses including Ayr, Epsom, Sandown, and Newbury, trained as a chartered surveyor. He offers an independent consultancy on all-weather and turf gallops to a number of leading trainers. Kershaw says, “When sighting a gallop it is important to use the topography to maximum effect, and that is going to dictate the type of gallop that can be designed. Any bend, whether on flat, uphill, or an oval gallop, needs to be as consistent-turning as possible and its radius maximised. For instance, when designing an oval gallop on a rectangular plot it is better to have two bends than to try and stretch its length by building into the four corners of the field and ending up with four tight bends. The design of bends is even more critical today with the lack of quality riders.” It is worth speaking to local gallop and arena owners to discuss what has worked for them, the chances being that they will have undergone a period of trial and error before finding the best solution. This will be, in part, what works for their pocket and training style, but there will also be a strong element of what works best with the local climate and geology as well as useful advice on trustworthy local contractors. Drainage and foundations The Jockey Club’s Patton has said, “Regardless of the surface you wish to use, focus your investment in groundworks and drainage. The surface will be replaced every 7-10 years, while the base is the part that is there forever.” This is perhaps the key area upon which the success of any gallop or arena build will start. Local groundworks contractors will be a good guide for the drainage challenges and how extensively to engineer the drainage system. Many gallops have been built set into the ground, requiring a deep trench to accommodate drainage pipes, sub base, drainage stone, and surface. This is an expensive way to build and it opens up the risk of water ingress from the surrounding soil as well as surface water running onto the gallop during flooding. Patton suggests looking into building above ground – taking off the vegetation before building the gallops up, and the spoil can be used to form a bund to contain the gallop. This is the basis of the construction in both Warren Hill gallops in Newmarket, which take by far the most traffic throughout the year. Typically, the drainage base will constitute layers of hardcore, clean drainage stone and either a membrane or porous asphalt layer to keep the base and surface separated. While membranes offer savings in the medium term, they are perhaps more prone to damage, so careful consideration needs to be given to the cost of possibly replacing the membrane concurrently with re-surfacing. The manufacturers of surfaces have recently started to turn focus to creative drainage solutions to match their quality surfaces. Dan Skelton’s gallop is constructed unconventionally. Ironically, it couldn’t be described as ground-breaking as the ground wasn’t broken in construction; a track of polypropylene boxes – similar in design to milk crates – link together on a base of compacted rubble, which is laid on top of the soil. The boxes are topped off with a geo-textile membrane, and a concrete curb is cast in-situ, integrating the stakes for railings. The surface is then applied. You can actually see through the void beneath the gallop, through the structure of the crates, which allows significant drainage capacity. I have seen a similar gallop built on very heavy clay soil working very successfully through long periods of heavy rainfall. Similarly, when Keeneland switched went back to a conventional dirt surface, a “perforated curb” of recycled plastics bound by resin was installed around the inside rail. I have seen firsthand how this, combined with a well-thought-out drainage base – a remnant of its synthetic history – has made Keeneland’s track exceptional in its ability to handle extreme rainfall and promptly return to a fast track, where other tracks would be sloppy for days. Surface and maintenance There are myriad surfaces available. Decisions will need to be made on the balance of price and practicality. It is also worth establishing aftercare provision and factoring in the lifespan that one can reasonably expect from a surface. Testimonial will be the most useful pointer in this area. Another key to the longevity, safety, and of how much traffi c your gallop sees, the elements will take their toll over time. Areas of particular concern will be: ● Compaction from tractors using the same path each time. Design can help avoid this by building to the width that allows the wheels to take a different path on each pass. There are various products to attach to machinery, such as wheel mark eradicators, to help manage this. ● Separation that is evident when the gallop is harrowed at a certain depth too much without a deeper maintenance schedule being observed. The united harrowed lower level will form a hard base with a loose surface on top. This can potentially affect drainage as well as surface integrity. ● Contamination with organic matter, whether droppings, autumn leaves, or other aggregates from horse walks, which can undo some of the qualities of a carefully designed surface. Conclusion Perhaps it is Jessica Harrington’s gallops in Co Kildare that best prove how versatile a single-fi gure number of gallops can be. Harrington’s Commonstown Stables produces top-class performers under both codes, from sprinting two-year-olds to Cheltenham winners. Just as American trainers transitioning their stables from dirt to synthetic have to adapt training techniques for horses of all ages to each particular track, Harrington is known to get the most from the facilities at her disposal. The resounding feedback from trainers is that, regardless of facilities, a fast horse, the ability to adapt to training conditions, and a safe, consistent surface are the most important elements for success. I could fi nd no better conclusion than the words of Ger Lyons: “A gallop is the most important tool I have. I couldn’t train without it but I have no doubt that I would be able to pick up and adapt to training elsewhere if I had to. It won’t, however, make a slow horse fast. Over the years I have found what works for me, what maintenance is needed and what constitutes a good piece of work on this ground. It works…” ■ performance of any gallop is maintenance. Gallop manufacturers sell a range of maintenance implements and give valuable guidance and follow-up advice. Training staff to work the gallops sensitively is important, as a single mistake can leave severe damage and a costly repair. In general a daily, if not between every lot, grooming to take out hoof marks and ensure a consistent surface is necessary. Manufacturers will give guidance on each surface’s particular “deep maintenance” requirements, which involve a deeper harrowing of the lower strata of surface followed by tightening up. This is also where independent advice can be valuable. Topping up, re-waxing, or adjusting composition of a “tired” surface is a cost-effective lifeline to extend the use of a gallop before full resurfacing is needed. Weather alone will have a degenerative “When sighting a gallop it is important to use the topography to maximum effect, and that is going to dictate the type of gallop that can be designed Mark Kershaw ” Equivia is the tried and tested riding surface for gallops, riding arenas, indoor schools and lunge rings. Equivia is a blend of silica sand and fibres with a wax coating. • is sure footed • is long lasting • is free-draining • has minimal kick-back • requires low maintenance • is instantly ready to use after installation • has after-sales service second to none Please telephone for a quotation for your project and for delivery costs to anywhere in the UK. Freight costs for worldwide destinations available. Supply only or full construction and supply, UK and worldwide. Contact us for samples: info@equivia.co.uk | Tel: 01425 654675 / 07836 591446 | www.equivia.co.uk Sand rings are important for day-to-day conditioning 58 TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM ISSUE 53 TRAINING effect on many surfaces, as has been illustrated in the change at Great Leighs in the period when it sat unused, before becoming Chelmsford City. So regardless

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