Equestrian
Mark and his team then raked up all the cores then swept rubber crumb into all the core holes, which has really helped to decompact these areas
A Wiedenmann Terra Spike is an important piece of kit, seen here fitted with the hollow tines for decompacting jump landings
programme of improvements at Carlisle, starting with the fences themselves, he explains.
“We noticed that the birch was being
easily knocked out of the frames when horses hit the fences during chase races, so we have deepened the frames by four inches so that we were able to increase the number of birch bundles to take the impact better. The toe boards also have been made taller to provide an improved, more visible ground line for both horses and riders and so that they can be dug further into the ground to avoid horses’ hooves getting stuck under them in soft going.” Thomas has also surveyed all nine of the
fences on the jumps track to ensure that they meet the British Horseracing Authority standard of being 6ft to 6ft 6in from the toe board to the back of the birch. Where necessary, they have been altered to all measure 6ft 2in, a consistency that should encourage better jumping. Work on the fences has to be fitted in
around the normal routine of mowing, alignment/moving of running rail, watering, fertiliser application etc., so they have been improved two or three at a time during any quiet periods.
With little spare capacity, groundstaff from
Aintree, a sister Jockey Club Racecourse, are drafted in to help with any major projects. This year, that has included the moving of
a chase fence that had seen an unusual number of fallers, as Thomas explains: “Aintree Head Groundsman, Mark Aynsley, and his team dug out, drained and returfed the site of the fence, then we relocated it fifty yards further up the hill. The new fence has been jumped at the first two national hunt meetings this year with no fallers and we have had good feedback from the jockeys.”
“We also hollow cored the landing areas of all our jumps. Mark and his team then raked up all the cores then swept rubber crumb into all the core holes, which has really helped to decompact these areas.” The team also put in new road crossings,
adding an additional crossing point on the back straight and renovating the others, installing new drains, adding stone and laying fibresand so that the courses remain dry after heavy rain. “We were so busy with the flat season at that time, the extra help was very important,” says Thomas. During the winter months, Carlisle
traditionally had a reputation for heavy and
” Head Groundsman Thomas Wootten
PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2015 I 101
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