“Frost covers certainly have a big future in the racing industry, but we must remain cautious and not blindly believe that deploying covers equals racing on; Mother Nature can often have the last word”
Mark Cornford, Head Groundsman, Plumpton Racecourse
to the same standard and specification,” stated Mark. “Pipework was put in first with main carrier drains fed by laterals at 5 metre centres, on top of which, and running across them, we installed gravel and sand banding at one metre centres to enable surface water to filtrate through the clay and into the pipework as quickly as possible.” More drainage work was undertaken this year, at the end of May, using the same local contractor, J Thomas (Southern) of Henfield. “We have used this company for a number of years now with great success, they work to an agreed specification and always within our budgets to achieve the best result,” said Mark. “The project this year is to improve the removal of surface water from the area at the turn out of the home straight.”
Despite all the improvements to the track, Mark appreciates that you are still at the mercy of Mother Nature. “You could have all the drains in the world, but late overnight heavy rain within 24 hours of your first race will always cause you problems. Drains, as good as they are, still need time to work!” As a pure national hunt course, Plumpton has to operate during the worst of the British weather. Sixteen
racing fixtures are staged during a season that starts in late September and ends in the middle of May. The steeplechase course has a relatively narrow track that offers very little in flexibility of width and, apart from the bends, the course line alters very little with the fences never moved. The hurdle course has a bit more variation, with flights positioned on an inner line for early and late season meetings and on an outer line for mid-winter meetings. “Over a season there will be twice as many hurdle runners as chasers, and it’s our hurdle course that always shows most wear towards the second half of the season,” explained Mark. “With our small circuit the horses run over our ground two or three times per race, creating damage that would make many a groundsman from other spheres cry.” In recent years, the use of frost covers on racecourses has become more widespread, and the team at Plumpton has been eager to embrace this new technology. The course first deployed them in December 2007, and saved a meeting from the threat of overnight frost. Covers have been used on a further five occasions, only once failing to beat the weather, in early January 2009, when temperatures as low as minus 9 degrees
centigrade were recorded. “We have Tildenet covers which are able to withstand frost entering the ground at temperatures around the minus 4 region at best,” explained Mark. “Frost covers certainly have a big future in the racing industry, but we must remain cautious and not blindly believe that deploying covers equals racing on; Mother Nature can often have the last word.” Returning to his favourite topic of conversation, his staff, Mark outlines some of the usual maintenance procedures in place. “When it comes to course repairs we all work together, pulling in one direction to achieve the best possible results. We all build the fences, but we follow John’s lead. Right from the start, he showed a natural talent and keen eye for levels when cutting off new fences; his background is greenkeeping and his abilities are endless.”
Mark considers himself fortunate to be able to call upon a well respected and much needed part-time casual workforce who bolster the staff numbers for race days and track repair days that follow. “We aim to walk and fork the course back the day after racing, and then lightly roll with our Cambridge ring
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