Equestrian
“
Depending on field sizes and going, I’d expect to have to repair between eight and fifteen hurdles after each meeting
Flight check. The workshop at Plumpton is always full of hurdles under repair
fresh growth. The mowing season varies year to year but, as a rule, very little course topping takes place between November to February. Twice a year, Mark gets nearby contractor
Peter J Mannington to verti-drain the course, which is then topdressed with sand. This summer, more drainage work on the bottom bend is planned and contractors, Speedcut, are returning to install sand banding to supplement the pipework it put in previously. These 2-inch trenches, 10-inches deep, will then be half filled with shingle and topped with sand.
It is the obstacles that make National Hunt
racing what it is, so I asked Mark about how they look after them at Plumpton. The course has five flights of hurdles, each
Kicked to pieces. Just a couple of hurdle panels after the Sussex National meeting
Having been a ‘hidden gem’ of English racing for a while, it's very nice to receive wider public recognition
”
Plumpton's new parade ring with rubberised walkway, built for the 2013-14 season
88 I PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015
flight comprising five hurdle sections. The cost, brand new, of a hurdle would be around £200, so a whole flight is about £1,000. At Plumpton, Mark and his team conduct build and repair themselves by buying in necessary components - timber, birch and padding. Each hurdle top to bottom rail is 3 feet 6
inches but, in position at an angle, they are 37 inches off the ground. “Depending on field sizes and going, I’d
expect to have to repair between eight and fifteen hurdles after each meeting,” says Mark. “The horses sometimes knock them to pieces. It’s practically a full-time job, a bit of a treadmill if you like, but without decent obstacles there would be no jump racing. It’s what makes our world go round.” The five plain fences and one open ditch
each have six sections which can be unbolted and moved if necessary, though they haven’t had to do this for some years now. Post event maintenance is, by and large, replacement in-situ of damaged birch. Whole fences are taken off the course at the end of the season for annual makeover. Three are completely rebuilt and three refurbished. The next year this is reversed, and so the cycle continues. The take-off and landing areas around each fence are periodically levelled, as necessary. The Inspector of Racecourses - and Peter Hobbs is the local one for Plumpton - will pay
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