“I’m putting together a five year plan that will, hopefully, sit nicely within the budgets”


Just walking the dog


areas and heavier soils present different challenges and various procedures to overcome them. I shall be spending some time over the winter getting a feel of the place and assessing how these challenges can be confronted to the best of our ability. I shall be picking Stuart Arksey’s brains (the former head groundsman) as his experience will be essential in my smooth transition from jumps to flat racing.


I’m putting together a five- year plan that will, hopefully, sit nicely within the


Mole damage Damage caused by footballers


budgetary constraints and logistics of the task ahead. I have already got my staff


to reduce the height of cut and increase the regularity of the mowing. The course has been vertidrained and aeration will become an ongoing occurrence. I want to increase the general depth of root and some areas across the course do suffer from panning. These areas become apparent during rainfall and are in the usual high wear areas associated with horse racing, i.e. the grass adjacent to the


inside rail. There are plans already in place to widen parts of the course and move some of the rails away from tree lines. These plans will help to spread the wear better and, with the addition of some temporary running rails during non-race days during winter time, this will protect the inside running line from joggers and dog walkers who, like golfers, take the shortest route round the track. Another problem that I have to deal with is moles. One section of the course is


The Grandstand


next to an area of protected common land and the moles nest in there and venture out under the course to find food. The runs that these animals create leave areas that are unstable. There are lots of challenges


here, but all are not insurmountable. This is a fresh challenge and something that I am sure will give me lots of job satisfaction in return. And, at the end of the working day that is what we all strive to achieve.


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