Equestrian
A return to Hereford Katie Stephens first worked at Hereford Racecourse as manager in 2004 and, until 2010, was Clerk of the Course, moving back to her native west country to combine the role at Bath with training racehorses.
In 2012, Arena Racing Company closed Hereford due to a dispute with owners Herefordshire County Council over the lease. It is to reopen in October after ARC pledged to invest in ‘grass roots’ country courses, bolstered by strong support from local trainers.
Rebecca Davies has joined Hereford as Executive Director and Clerk of the Course, but will be supported for the first four meetings by Katie, who takes the Clerk’s role at those meetings.
“I loved my time at Hereford and was very sad to see it close, so I’m really pleased that national hunt racing will return there,” she says.
“The groundstaff were kept on, so the track was well looked after and, apart from a few ‘tired’ areas, it is in good condition. It’s quite a challenging track to look after as it is surrounded by housing and a school, but it is very popular, both with the racing industry and the local community, so I’m sure it will be a success.”
Pitchcare will be reporting on Hereford Racecourse later in the year.
Centre course, looking over to the new grandstand development
has picked up now,” said Katie. “Continuing to race on the existing ground, meanwhile, means that we can get some ryegrass into that too and make it more resilient.” Pests and diseases are a perennial
headache for racecourse groundsmen, and she comments: “We have to be proactive where nematodes in particular are concerned and it is getting more difficult as chemical products are taken off the market, with Chlorpyrifos being the latest. And yet no new active ingredients are being launched.” “Our agronomist’s view is that we now
need to maintain the turf in a better condition to resist attacks.” The cold spring meant that the turf was
especially slow to get going this year, but Katie points out that the altitude means that they start later in the year and finish later than many courses to give time for the track to benefit from spring growth. “We started using a wetting agent a couple
An archive photo of the paddock and old Kelston suite from the 1900s
of years ago, which really pepped the turf up and it started the season better the following year. We also use lots of seaweed, whilst the turf tends to make good use of any rain that we do get.” With up to twenty-two fixtures a season,
the dry conditions are of particular benefit in reducing damage after each meeting. “When it is this dry, the horses only ‘punch’ the top layer - it’s very different to repairing a national hunt track in winter! You do come to realise just how resilient turf is, although we give it every opportunity by filling with seed which germinates quickly and at low temperatures.” Big fixtures, such as Super Saturday in
early June, plus Friday night and Ladies’ Day meetings in July, draw crowds of upto 7,000 people, whilst higher class racing with listed races at the beginning and, new for this year, at the end of the season attract a more discerning racegoer. The new facilities may swell crowds still further as they provide the opportunity for music and entertainment add-ons that have boosted racecourse gate figures elsewhere in the country.
Andy is supported by two full time
groundsmen, Andrew Flook and Jack Moon, plus raceday casuals, and he comments that the workload is manageable without the time consuming tasks of watering and endless rail movements that some grounds teams face.
Track levelling during and after ... 110 I PC JUNE/JULY 2015
... new turf has been given a full year to establish.
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