Racecourse digs deep for water supply
WHILE THE week leading up to a race meeting would be busy enough at the best of times, there was extra activity in Wexford Racecourse last week as a new well was dug to ensure sufficient water supply to the course.
Racecourse chairman Michael Murphy took the decision last Friday week to sink a second well given the continuing hot, dry conditions, saying that having safe ground for horses and jockeys was their top priority.
As it stood, the course’s well was delivering about 5,000 gallons which would normally suffice but given the conditions, he felt they had to put a back-up in place in case anything went wrong.
‘Wexford has a well and a stream but the extreme weather prompted us to go with a second well as a back-up. At the moment, the going is good to firm, good in places, and we have to be able to maintain that for the safety of the horses and riders.’
Two local contractors were called into action for the job: Nicholas Wall, from Newbawn, sunk the well while Jim Butler from Clonroche installed the pump, which had to be sourced from Germany.
The new well was sunk last Tuesday. Mr Murphy remarked that all of the racecourses around the country would be experiencing difficulties as a result of the weather. The second well, he said, was something that they would always have and would stand to them in the future.