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EQUESTRIAN


Epsom’s distinctive features include a sharp camber to the winning post


Downskeepers, who work to protect the habitats provided by the chalk grassland in cooperation with Jockey Club Racecourses, which manages Epsom Downs Racecourse.


Clerk of the Course Andrew Cooper and Regional Estates Manager Craig Williamson


The Derby start, with a climb equal to the height of Nelson’s Column in the first half mile. Undulations are one factor which make the turf prone to damage from horses’ hooves


One stipulation is that there should be no more than sixteen meetings per year, and the fixture list currently stands at eleven. “Everything we do is geared towards the Derby, and it is the climax of the year,” explains Clerk of the Course Andrew Cooper, “Although we have a meeting before it in April, and a very successful series of summer evenings before the season draws to a close in September.” Andrew and Craig also oversee nearby Sandown Park, which hosts National Hunt racing in winter and flat racing in summer, and the workload largely dovetails neatly. “The main jumps season at Sandown finishes in March - although we have a meeting which


is mixed jumps and flat at the end of April - and then the focus switches to Epsom,” says Craig. Sandy loam soil - as shallow as a few inches in places - over chalk subsoil makes for a free draining course, but Craig comments that the surface is highly prone to damage, not least because of its undulations, with the Derby course rising the height of Nelson’s Column in the first half mile. “The course damages quite readily and we do ask a lot of it in a short space of time, so keeping the turf healthy is key.” Whereas in the 1960s the surface was un-irrigated and all meetings were run across the full 30m width of the course, modern racing requires better turf husbandry, explains Andrew, and the profile of the Investec Derby demands the highest standards of all.


It is a race which has seen plenty of change - traditionally, the


Tattenham Corner has a sharp downhill bend, one of the features which makes the Derby a unique test for three year-old racehorses


106 PC April/May 2019


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