Equestrian A
sk a groundsman at an all‐ weather racecourse what his biggest challenge is and you might be surprised to hear it is the weather!
Wolverhampton’s Dunstall Park racecourse is one of the industry’s busiest tracks, hosting seventy‐nine meetings in 2018, although it has clocked up more than a hundred in some years.
Racing takes place up to three times a week in January and February, coming after a busy Christmas period which sees 6,000 racegoers attend on Boxing Day, with 1,000 enjoying the venue’s restaurants. Faced by the worst cold snap the Midlands has seen for some years in December 2017, Clerk of the Course Fergus Cameron and his team had to admit defeat when eight inches of snow fell, and postponed a meeting ‐ by twenty‐four hours.
“We were able to clear the racing surface and it was raceable, but it was impossible to get areas such as the access to the stable yard and the car parks up to standard in the time available. As it was, we used the equivalent of eleven days labour to try and get it ready and, twenty‐four hours later we were able to run,” he explains. Wolverhampton became the first racecourse in Europe to use the Tapeta surface in 2014. Tapeta is a patented wax coated mixture of sand, rubber and fibre developed by former leading British national hunt trainer Michael Dickinson and used all over the world.
“The previous Polytrack surface, which had been down since 2004, included recycled products which break down over time and alter the way the surface performs.”
After being reconfigured when Polytrack
replaced the original Fibresand surface in 1995, Wolverhampton remains largely unchanged, with its one mile round, 16m wide surface.
Some 29,000cu.m of Polytrack was removed and sold on before contractors Stobart installed the new surface, which is 18cm deep and is laid over 15cm of stone drainage layer and 5cm of porous tarmac. Tapeta has since proved successful on Newcastle’s new all‐weather track and is under consideration for Southwell, which is looking to replace its Fibresand surface next year.
“All surfaces are different and require specific preparation, despite their similar construction,” comments Fergus. “The wax binder, in particular, affects how the horse’s hoof interacts with the track, which is why some tracks suit particular horses and not others.”
PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2018 I 97
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