“We verti-drain the new course four times a year, working at varying depths from 200 to 250mm, to break up compaction and encourage root growth whereas, on the old course, it is only done once a year. It has made a significant difference”
but we still have to do it by hand,” admits Gilly. “We’re as efficient as possible - four men can move a mile and a half of rail in three days. We use a rope to mark the new position and it goes in like clockwork - it’s a tried and tested method.”
Changing seasons
Rail movements are also the biggest job when transitioning from National Hunt to flat meetings in the spring. “We have two weeks to do it in and, on the round course, the rail has to be reversed from the jumps to flat tracks. I like to repair the ground on the jumps course first, as it can get rough if it is left and then dries out.” Two groundsmen are dedicated to tractor work, using the vertid-drains, while others bring in the hurdles and remove the wings from the steeplechase fences. “I have seen portable fences in action and would look at them for areas where we have to take the jumps off,” comments Gilly. “But, it would require additional tractor
movements on the course, which is something we always seek to avoid.” Once the March fertiliser application has been made, the sward is raked and overseeded with a Charterhouse Disc Seeder to replace the poa. Gilly uses seed from a number of suppliers, including Barenbrug’s BAR 50 SOS, which is 50% Bardorado Perennial ryegrass and 50% 4IR-1 Annual Ryegrass, British Seed Houses’ Rapid Sports Renovator Plus and Rigby Taylor’s racecourse mix. “We have had a lot of success with the Barenbrug mixture as it will germinate at temperatures down to 2.5 deg centigrade,” he comments. “It comes up year round after repairing our jump course, which is ideal. We do like to use pure ryegrass as it gives the colour that we are after.” Juggling the
groundsmen’s workload is an important part of Gilly’s job, and he says that ‘project work’ goes on the back burner at busy times. The team of twelve full
time groundsmen, boosted by seven casuals approaching the Royal meeting, are also responsible for tending the extensive formal and ornamental areas, including the grass verges of the underpass. A mechanic takes care of maintenance and routine servicing in the
racecourse’s well equipped workshop.
Although the golf club has moved from the centre of the course and is cared for independently, its former site is now under a heath management plan implemented by Gilly. “We are only allowed to cut it once a year, and are subject to hedgerow restrictions and heather growing regimes. But, it is a natural, attractive area and attracts increasing numbers of birds. The local community has access, and it has proved a very popular move,” he explains.
Gilly has been at Ascot for fifteen years, following twenty-nine years at United Racecourses; when he was appointed at Sandown at the age of 21, he was the industry’s youngest head groundsman. His own team vary in age and experience, and he comments that the provision of
accommodation in the benefits package is a big attraction in a part of the country with sky-high house prices. Chris Stickels came to the course in June 2005, from his role as Clerk of the Course at Lingfield and Folkestone. While much of the course redevelopment was completed by then, getting it up and running and producing a racing surface worthy of Ascot’s world class reputation, with the support of Gilly and his team, has been his responsibility. And, it is one which he has grasped enthusiastically, and continues to do so in the run up to 15th October, when the eyes of the world will once again fall on Ascot, keen to see how it has tackled its latest challenge.
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