EQUESTRIAN


W


hen a small team is preparing for racing, it’s all hands on deck and, at Sedgefield, Clerk of the Course Michael Naughton


can often be seen cracking on with that most scintillating of jobs, manning the irrigator. “It’s a good opportunity for some peace and quiet,” he jokes.


In common with all sporting venues, Sedgefield has had more than its fair share of peace and quiet over the past twelve months, but racing has continued behind closed doors, and there’s always been plenty to do for Michael, head groundsman Mark Watson and groundsmen Michael Pritchard and Andrew Metcalfe, who joined in the autumn.


Michael Pritchard was furloughed in the


summer of 2020, so then we were down to three.


Originally part of the Sands Hall Estate in Durham, racing began at Sedgefield in 1732, with formal meetings taking place by 1846. The course now hosts twenty days a year, the pinnacle being the Durham National in October, won back in the 1980s by Rubstic, who went on to victory in the Aintree Grand National. Other notable Sedgefield winners include Paddy’s Return, successful in the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. “The track is very undulating and quite tight, so lends itself well to National Hunt racing,” explains Michael Naughton. “Trainers will travel some distance to bring horses here, including the Tizzards from Somerset and Gordon Elliott from Ireland. We seem to have attracted a better class of


horse in recent years.” Mark explains that, whilst the majority of the track drains well, the home straight is over clay, so holds water more than the back straight. “We move rails to produce fresh ground where possible, particularly for the take off and landing of fences and in wet areas like the home straight.”


“The track is 10 furlongs round, and only 25m wide in places so there’s not much room, but we put in lots of work between meetings to improve the ground, especially on the bends,” says Michael. “While it was disappointing to lose our January meeting to frost, it has saved the ground for the rest of the season.”


Mark has been at Sedgefield for six years, starting out as a casual, and he comments


PC February/March 2021


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