Equestrian


Getting up at 4.30 on a winter's morning and, an hour later in complete darkness, assessing the state of a sports surface needs a pretty high level of dedication. Neville Johnson went to a prize winning National Hunt course in Sussex to talk to a man who does just that, and does it ‘wearing two hats!’


Plumpton Racecourse


Double winner - two hats!


A


s racecourses go, Plumpton is pretty small, one of the smallest in the UK in fact. Its compact nine-furlong course stages sixteen National Hunt meetings


a year between September and May and, come rain or shine, it draws as many as 6,000 on main race days. Its uncomplicated circuit, with just two bends and two straights, means you can see the whole of a race from whatever vantage point you choose, and runners will pass you at least twice. Delightfully set in the lea of the South Downs, it is very racegoer friendly. Unsurprisingly, readers of Racing Post


84 I PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015


recently voted it the country’s best viewing course.


Plumpton is making a habit of getting


accolades. As reported in the last issue of Pitchcare, the course topped its earlier Racecourse Groundstaff of the Year award in the jump course category - repeating its 2009 win - by being named the best overall racecourse at the Racecourse Association’s Showcase Awards evening at Haydock Park in November. The man very much behind this is Mark


Cornford, Plumpton’s Head Groundsman and, since 2004, Clerk of the Course too. “Michael Moloney, Plumpton’s CEO drove


us up to Haydock for the Awards. We’d been ‘encouraged to go’, but never dreamt it would be us,” said Mark. “I still can’t believe the words; ‘there can only be one winner. Plumpton.’ In the midst of everyone representing all fifty-nine UK courses, including the likes of Ascot and Cheltenham, it seemed unreal.” It was an extraordinary achievement


given the resources at his disposal compared to big league courses. Mark is very proud of what the owners, trainers, and jockeys have obviously felt about their efforts. What is the course and the man who looks after it like?


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