UPGRADE-NOT THE CHOP!

Fibresand MUST stay at Southwell

ARENA LEISURE is thinking of changing the sand surface at Southwell. At The Races’ Hugh Taylor puts forward his case for keeping things as they are.

It’s been reported that the future of the Fibresand track at Southwell is up in the air, with the possibility of a switch to another artificial surface such as Tapeta.

There are certainly some people who wouldn’t be sorry to see Fibresand go. Not every trainer is a fan of the surface, nor every jockey for that matter.

However, in my view, there are plenty of reasons not only to keep it but to expand its usage and attempt to give it a higher profile.

One of British racing’s greatest assets is the diversity of its courses. Left-handed and right-handed (and figure-of-eight too), flat or undulating, sharp or galloping, and a contrasting range of all-weather tracks too.

Plenty of British courses have been described as “unique” but none is quite as unique as Southwell.

There isn’t any other track whose form counts for so little elsewhere.

That means there is a reasonable sample of the horse population that is hugely dependent on Southwell’s Fibresand track for its prospects of winning a race.

Consider these horses: Alpha Tauri, Big Amigo, Bring on A Spinner, ® Captain Revelation, Custard The Dragon, Dark Forest, Dungannon, Fortinbrass, Kemsing. Medici Moon, Monsieur Jimmy, Moon River, Moonshine Ridge, Piazon, Razin’ Hell, Shearian, Tatting, The Lock Master, Treaty Of Rome and Zaeem.

Since the start of 2016, they have run in a combined 220 races at Southwell, and won a total of 71 of those races (almost one in three).

Elsewhere, they have run 200 times combined – and won two races between them, both at odds-on in weak races.

Outlet

Southwell provides an outlet not specifically for moderate horses, but for horses that have a talent on one particular and very valid surface.

It is our only comparable surface to dirt, and in the cosmopolitan world of thoroughbred breeding these days, there are always going to be plenty of horses who are going to be seen to best effect on this type of surface.

USA-bred horses, and especially those from sires who excelled on dirt, have consistently done very well at Southwell, and as awareness of this fact has grown their strike rate has increased. Since 2000, US breds have a strike rate of over 19% there, compared with 12% on synthetic tracks and 11% on turf.

Aidan O’Brien has galloped his Breeders’ Cup Classic candidates such as Giant’s Causeway, Declaration Of War and Galileo at Southwell because of its resemblance to dirt, but overall there is little opportunity for quality horses to run at Southwell.

That’s a shame, because it would be good if England had a natural pathway to the better dirt events run in the US, Dubai and elsewhere.

The first two home in a two-year-old novice event run at Southwell last month are both bound for Meydan to run in valuable dirt races this spring.

But the suspicion is that over the years there have been dozens of potential dirt stars who have never been unveiled because the races aren’t available in this country for their talent to be “discovered”.

There’s one other factor in favour of retaining Southwell’s Fibresand track, and that’s the fact that it has a real cult following among a section of racing fans and punters.

They like the fact that the races are truly run, that the form generally makes sense once you have a grasp of it, and that so many course specialists keep returning to the track.

It’s not everybody’s cup of tea, by any means, but those that like it tend to love it.

There are 60 racecourses in Britain, but only one that caters for the needs of the dirt/Fibresand horse. It would be a shame to lose that.