had new bosses nearly every year, each one wanting to make their mark on the club, which meant things changed a lot and, as a result, there was a real lack of stability.” “When the chance came up to join Epsom, I jumped at it. There are few better places to progress to than here, so it offered great potential for me to move up.”
Nigel’s right hand man for the last fifteen years was Carl Tonks, until March, when he moved to take up the head post at Ripon. “Many staff over the years have moved up the ranks or on to pursue headships at other clubs at home and abroad,” Nigel explains. “The training here is excellent and gives the lads valuable experience of working at a top course, something that will set them up well if they do move
on.” Nigel’s boss, Clerk of the Course and
Director of Racing, Andrew Cooper, gives him “pretty much a free rein, to bring new ideas to the table and manage the course as we think best. In the past I’ve found too much interference only serves to be counterproductive”. With an average of fouteen meetings a year - fifteen scheduled this season, a club record - the grounds team has a tough, tight schedule to ensure the ground is ready for the Investec Derby Festival. It’s a programme that Nigel admits can mean a battle with the elements as wetter springs and hotter summers serve up their own challenges. “Our location on Epsom Downs means we run straight on chalk,” says Nigel, “which is brilliant
for free drainage, yet not so good for irrigation.” “We are always looking to achieve a good going but that means we have to overwater, putting hundreds of thousands of gallons on the course throughout a season. The dry summers we experience here - some of the driest in the UK - and the fact that we’re on such a free-draining surface mean we have to over-compensate sometimes.” Over the last fifteen years, the South- east has seen a dramatic reduction in rainfall recorded in April - a worrying trend that has forced courses such as Epsom to irrigate more than they would like to do, a factor that Nigel believes wouldn’t be so bad if they had an affordable procedure for doing so. “The best method for us is boom irrigation and tow lines. A pop-up
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