The May Festival is the first meeting of the calendar at York Racecourse. With £835,000 in prize money on offer, top trainers, horses and riders are guaranteed. The warm weather in the lead -up to the thre day event encouraged 42,000 racegoers to attend.
Laurence Gale MSc joins Head Groundsman, Adrian Kay, as he sets up the course.
ork is one of the premier racecourses in Europe. It won the Flat Racecourse of the Year Award for 2007 and also came out top in The Times newspaper’s survey of all Britain’s racecourses. Horses first raced at York during the days of the Roman Emperor, Severeus. However, many of the 260,000 racegoers that will visit York this season are unlikely to realise they are taking part in a spectacle that first took place over 2000 years ago. York Corporation records show that the City first fully supported racing in 1530. In 1607, racing is known to have taken place on the frozen river Ouse, between Micklegate Tower and Skeldergate Postern. The first detailed records of a race meeting date from 1709, when much work was done to improve the course at Clifton Ingam, an area prone to flooding. Despite this work, the flooding continued and, in 1730, racing transferred to Knavesmire, where today’s course remains.
Y
As its name implies, Knavesmire was a mire with a stream running through it
and a considerable amount of levelling and draining was required to create the horseshoe shaped course which opened for its first meeting in 1731. In recent years the racecourse, as well as hosting its own spectacular meetings, also played host to Royal Ascot in 2005 and The Ladbrokes St Leger in 2006 whilst both home courses, Ascot and Doncaster respectively, were being redeveloped. Adrian Kay is the Head Groundsman at the course and is not one for letting the grass grow under his feet. Since his arrival from Aintree in 2006 he has worked hard to improve the course. This has been achieved with the support of William Derby, CEO and Clerk of the Course, who has supported Adrian in the purchase of new equipment and additional resources for track maintenance. William and Adrian have also been involved in the design and installation of the track improvements that are well under way. The work began in January 2008 and is expected to be finishednext year, and includes the following: • Install a totally new primary drainage
system for the whole course at 5 metre centres.
• Widen and regrade the south bend to help provide more fresh ground and improve the camber of the bend.
• Upgradethe existing in situ irrigation system, installing 300 plus sprinkler heads on both sides of the track plus the provision of a new 90 metre deep bore hole to supply the new system.
• Provide a complete new service road for the course.
The improvement works are costing £2.5 million. So, with the project work and the normal ongoing maintenance, Adrian will be kept busy. A crucial part if the project planning
process was to ensure the work of the contractors did not interfere with the racing. Preparations for the May Festival began last October, immediately after the final meeting of 2007, and began with divot repairs using 25 tonnes of rootzone materials and overseeding with a tonne of Advanta MM25. This was followed by surface decompaction using a vertidrain and an application of
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108