Equestrian
Petite track dimensions make preparing ground for an expanding and increasingly popular fixture list at Cartmel a challenge, but Head Groundsman Gary Sharp and his team use their ingenuity to make the best of it.
Jane Carley reports Cartmel Racecourse
Good things come in small packages
C
artmel Racecourse is a firm favourite with locals and holidaymakers due to its scenic location on the Holker Estate in Cumbria, and improvements to
the track over the last decade have seen trainers flocking from far and wide to run their horses at the summer jumping course. Established as a racecourse in 1856, Cartmel is to hold nine days’ racing in 2016, with fixtures two days a month from May to August. The season kicks off at the Whitsun Bank
Holiday with three meetings in five days. Flagship races include the The Oakmere Homes Hurdle in June, the Totepool Cumbria Crystal Cup in July, and the Cartmel Cup in August. A new ladies’ race, with a £5000 diamond pendant for the winning rider, proved one of the most competitive races of the year. “We have seen a considerable increase in
runners as trainers have become more confident in the quality of the racing surface. This year, we welcomed more runners than ever before - and the highest rated runners we’ve ever had too,” confirms Head Groundsman Gary Sharp. A major challenge for Gary and his team is
“
the nature of the track itself - at just a mile round with six chase fences (the shortest jumps race distance is two miles), repeated pounding by the horses’ hooves takes its toll, whilst racegoers spectate from the centre of the course, which is bisected by the finishing straight.
Combined with the wet climate of Cumbria - in 2012 some sixty inches of rain fell at Cartmel - this means that turf damage in soft ground conditions made putting the track back for the second day of a two-day meeting very difficult. “The track has always been very narrow with tight bends, so we looked for a way to give us a bit more room,” explains Gary. “We built some ground up on the inside of the Roadside Straight, over a period of three years, and topdressed it with soil in autumn 2014 and again in spring 2015.” Leading into the season, Gary added extra
fertiliser and incorporated the new area into the routine groundcare regime before it came into use this summer. The development widened the track by
more than fifty percent for over a furlong, giving more flexibility of layout and offering a potential new hurdle site. “In wet conditions, we would sometimes
We have seen a considerable increase in runners as trainers have become more confident in the quality of the racing surface ... and the highest rated runners we've ever had too
100 I PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2016
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