Equestrian T
he summer weather of 2012 will go down as one of the most difficult to contend with for UK racecourses. “Yet, we could actually race today if we had a fixture,” commented Stephen Lambert, Clerk of the Course and Managing Director at Stratford-on- Avon Racecourse, “and the reason for that is the vigour and structure we now have in the turf.”
The deluge over the first weekend in November did, however, delay end of season renovations at Stratford as it was just too wet to fill and roll the track in preparation for the winter. Racing takes place from March to November at the popular Warwickshire national hunt track. The principal meeting is in June and, for the first time in 2013, the AGA Ladies Championship final will take place on the same Friday evening card as the W&S Recycling Stratford Foxhunters Champion Hunters’ Chase (for the Horse and Hound Cup), and the John Corbet Cup, sponsored by Wetherbys. With the November finish to the season, getting renovations done in early autumn and taking advantage of mild conditions is essential. It takes some careful planning to protect the works whilst the last race meetings of the year are completed. The hurdle track, which sees the most runners, was reseeded in the spring, and
the chase track eighteen months ago, to improve the quality of the sward. Overseeding also takes place in September, during a gap in the fixtures before the final autumn meetings. Head Groundsman, Eric Harris,
recently switched seed mixture to Everris Pro Select 1 perennial ryegrass, which is 40 percent Roadrunner, 30 percent Citation Fore and 30 percent Vantage. “It gives great recovery and comes
through really quickly, although we always use germination sheets to help it along,” he comments, adding: “It is also more economical than our previous mixture.” This year’s autumn renovations also included the addition of a new drain at the appropriately named Muddy Lane part of the course, and the levelling of the take-off for the first fence in the back straight. “We were able to install the drain, backfill and reseed in September and level and reseed the take-off before the final meetings,” Stephen explained. “We could actually have jumped the fence if we had been forced to, because the reseeding to the take-off had grown back so quickly, but we were able to bypass and leave the fence out until our meetings next spring.” Placing a short piece of rail between the omitted fence and the next protected the new drain and the fast establishing reseeded turf without disturbing the
Eric and his team are kept busy with fence building Eric Harris (left) and Stephen Lambert
“We were able to install the drain, backfill and reseed in September and level and reseed the take-off before the final meetings”
DECEMBER/JANUARY 2013 PC 85
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