Jimmy TWO HATS
JIMMY Stevenson has been involved in the sport for well over 25 years having spent 14 years at Aintree and the last 11 years at Leicester racecourse. His dual role gives him a varied and interesting insight into racecourse work. Wearing his Clerk of the Course hat, he has responsibility for the safety of the horses and riders. This is his priority, ensuring that the track is safe for racing. There is always a risk involved in horse racing but Jimmy uses his vast experience and knowledge to minimise them. Declaring the going of the course is one of his main jobs. There is usually a lot at stake, excuse the pun. He inspects a week before a meeting to declare the going, walking the whole course to get a feel for the underlying conditions of the ground. He uses his going stick to penetrate the turf, assessing the depth of hardness/softness. He has a range of choices from Hard to Heavy going. Based on Jimmy’s assessment owners and trainers make a decision on whether to enter their horse for the
meeting. If Jimmy gets it wrong, it can be costly. Each day in the week leading up to the meeting Jimmy will walk the course, updating the situation on the state of the going. If the conditions are unsuitable, he has the responsibility and authority, along with the stewards, to cancel a meeting. As you can appreciate this is an onerous responsibility with massive financial implications for the course and everyone connected with the sport, owners, riders, bookmakers etc.
On average, the course has lost 3 days racing each year because of the weather. Fortunately, last winter, Jimmy did not lose a single day.
Leicester is a very
undulating sandy clay loam course, which does create a few problems. Some of the lower spots can become softer during wet weather, thus giving an inconsistent going. It is when the going becomes too inconsistent that Jimmy has to make a decision on whether to close the course. In his
other role as Estate
Manager, his aim is to make Jimmy
Jimmy Stevenson is one of the few people in the horse racing industry with the responsibilities of being both the Clerk of the Course and Estate Manager.
LAURENCE GALE MSc reports
the Clerk of Course’s job as easy as possible. In this capacity his priority is to maintain the course and do everything possible to get a meeting on. He has three full time and fifteen part time staff to help him.
Leicester Racecourse has one of the busiest racing calendars in the country, with thirty-two race meetings a year, averaging one every eleven days, 21 summer flat meetings and 11 National Hunt jump meetings. Maintaining the course can be very challenging, the ground can be so varying and conditions change very quickly on sandy clay loam soils. The course is also very undulating.
Mowing and irrigation are the two most time consuming jobs. Generally, the flat course is mown at least three times per week and the jump course twice. Jimmy uses the largest rotary mowers he can lay his hands on, Votex front mounted. Rotary mowers are best suited for the grass heights required, which is 100mm for the flat and anything between 100- 150mm for the jumps. Irrigation is extensive and
expensive. An annual extraction licence for 10 million gallons of water is an indication of how much is used during the summer. The
course has a pop up system and also mobile spray boom units are used.
Leicester Racecourse was, in fact, the first course in the UK to have a pop up system way back in 1967. Only the flat course is
watered, the jump track has to rely on mother nature. If, when and how much to irrigate is Jimmy’s hardest decision. He spends hours listening to the weather forecasts. With meetings scheduled every 11 days, there is little time to keep on top of repairs. He has to use as much information as he possibly can to help plan his maintenance schedules. The winter and summer meetings each have their own maintenance agendas. The National Hunt season starts in mid November and runs right through to March. The damage to the grass on this track is more easily managed, the lay out of the course can be varied, thus rotating the wear areas and allowing time for recovery and repair. Well over 30 tonnes of 80/20 rootzone top dressing materials are used for divotting the jump course each meeting. Seed MM25 is added to the divot mix to help maintain grass populations, and is sown at every opportunity during the winter season. In recent
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