Equestrian T
he British Horseracing Authority relies on all‐weather courses to keep the sport going in periods of bad weather, but the ‘Beast from the East’ challenged even these
tracks in March.
With a lot of hard work and a tiny bit of cooperation from the weather gods at the 11th hour, Lingfield Park prevailed and ran its ironically named Spring Derby on a day when snow and ice brought most of the country and all other racing to a halt.
It was part of a baptism of fire for new Clerk of the Course George Hill, who took up the role at Lingfield in November 2017. “The extremely low temperatures, and in particular the wind chill, made preparing
even an all‐weather surface very difficult and cost us our meeting on the previous day,” he recalls. “We had minimal snow, but the moisture in any snow flurries simply froze into the surface.”
Groundsman George Ash has been at Lingfield since the first all‐weather surface was installed, so has experienced its management in all conditions. All of his experience and resilience was needed on this occasion.
The ‘Beast from the East’ produced windchill down to minus 12O
C and, after
admitting defeat with the first day of the meeting as the surface repeatedly froze, the race was quite literally on to save the Saturday fixture.
“We decided that the only option was for George Ash and myself to work the track all night,” explains Estate Manager Jon Harris. “We used every tool in the machinery fleet except the waterer! But it was our new Salford duck’s foot cultivator that really won the day, as we were able to get into the surface without ripping it up too much and prevent ice re‐forming. It shows the value of being flexible.” By 6.00am the surface temperature had risen to a balmy 1O
C and the meeting was
saved. After a Spring Derby watched by Lingfield’s largest ever TV audience, the team then had to prepare for a national hunt meeting forty‐eight hours later. It was a success that would have been
The home straight on the All‐weather
The Lingfield Park team (l‐r) Jon Harris, George Hill and George Ash
The bend into the back straight is cambered, so the Polytrack tends to migrate to the inner rail and has be regraded periodically
PC APRIL/MAY 2018 I 117
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