Equestrian
“ O
I vividly remember ‘Super Saturday’ in 2012 - while our athletes were scooping up gold medals at the Olympics, I was taking the decision to abandon racing between the second and third race after 28mm of rain fell!
n the outskirts of Glasgow, Hamilton Park hosts eighteen flat fixtures from May to September each year. Racing has been staged in Hamilton since 1782;
the present racecourse opened in 1926 and, since 1973, has been owned by the Hamilton Park Trust. Major fixtures include the season opener in May with an £80,000 prize fund, Braveheart night and the Lanark Silver Bell. A public holiday in July, Fair Friday, is celebrated with the listed Glasgow Stakes, part of a £100,000 card. Notable winners include the St Leger hero, Postponed. Very much part of the social scene due to
its location close to the city, Hamilton Park was the first racecourse to trial evening racing in 1947, and its Friday evening meetings are highly popular, attracting 9,000-strong crowds. Post-race concerts are also part of the
Hamilton Park package, helping to introduce the younger generation to racing, and stars including JLS and Tom Jones have also performed stand-alone concerts at the track. Groundstaff are called on to prepare for non-racing events year-round, including a
hectic Christmas party season and some sixty weddings a year, many of which take place in marquees on the lawns. “The grounds have to be immaculate
twelve months of the year, keeping track manager George Murdoch and groundsmen Dariusz Spis and Slywester Semenuiek busy, even outside the racing season,” explains Clerk of the Course Hazel Peplinski. “They are joined by Fraser Holmes for the racing months, plus a track repair team of casual labour.”
In 2012, a major programme of secondary
drainage was put into place, installing sand band to the laterals. Re-draining areas surrounding the track was also crucial, as Hazel explains: “Heavy rain used to run off the service
roads and car parks onto the track. I vividly remember ‘Super Saturday’ in 2012 - while our athletes were scooping up gold medals at the Olympics, I was taking the decision to abandon racing between the second and third race after 28mm of rain fell!” The ten year old non-slip surface on the
parade ring was also renewed. Drainage work was undertaken by
The grounds team l-r: Sylwester Semenuiek, Dariusz Spis and Fraser Holmes PC APRIL/MAY 2015 I 101
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