Global warming issue? Move the King George
Finding safe ground for proper National Hunt horses to race on this season has been a nightmare for racecourses, a headache for trainers and a financial catastrophe as far as the big Saturday meetings generating betting turnover is concerned.
But global warming is not going to go away anytime soon, so there needs to be a change of plan. It is imperative that ground no faster than good to soft should be provided for the big Saturday meeting from the middle of October to the end of April. And that means the entire topsoil structure, and not just the top couple of inches.
What is impractical and probably increasingly difficult, however, is that all the courses should try to achieve that. So the time is right to decide whether courses should be heavily irrigated autumn and spring courses, or winter venues where nature will do the job. But achieving this will be exacerbated by the different ownership status of the courses.
It is relatively straightforward to define which category Kempton and Sandown should be in, and fortuitously both are owned by the Jockey Club. Kempton has its own lake and plenty of land beyond the back straight on which to harvest water. Sandown, on the other hand, has to get its water from the mains. It would thus make sense to have a Kempton series of meetings at the beginning and end of the season and focus the winter fixtures on Sandown.
Some will argue that it would be repetitive to have a series of meetings at the same track, but the races would be different and the horses likewise. And after all, no one says on day five of Royal Ascot: “Blimey, are we here again… that’s a bit boring.” Such a notion will appal some of the purists. “What, run the King George at Sandown and the ‘Whitbread’ at Kempton?” Why not? The Triumph Hurdle used to be run at Hurst Park but it seems to be getting on perfectly well since it moved to Cheltenham.
I do not particularly like the idea of the “Whitbread” being run at Kempton, a much sharper track than Sandown, but we will all have to adapt. These seasonal changes will have to be made across the board where possible.
The Arena group of racecourses owns Doncaster, a fabulous winter jumping track, and Newcastle. It would make sense to make the latter its heavily irrigated autumn and spring track.
The Jockey Club’s lesser tracks could also pair up. Huntingdon, surrounded by gravel pits, appears to be an ideal autumn and spring track, where safe ground could be produced if the moisture level were maintained through the summer; unlike this year. Exeter, on the other hand, is the opposite, but it is a fabulous galloping track for staying horses in the winter.
Regrettably, it is unlikely that every racecourse will be able to pair up seasonally.
Aintree is a unique course and probably has to do its own thing. Haydock and Wetherby are under different ownership, which is a pity as they would be a good fit. And Ascot almost certainly has to be a winter course because of the part the jumping track plays during the Royal meeting.
But what to do about Cheltenham if ground on the soft side of good is the prerequisite? Clearly it would not, and could not produce that in October… but Kempton could. And given that both are Jockey Club tracks, there may be some mileage in moving some of Cheltenham’s meetings to what would be their Grade One irrigated track.
One thing is for sure: it will be almost impossible to please everyone. But as John Magnier, the boss of Coolmore Stud in Ireland, said the other day: “The powers that be are going to have to make some difficult decisions, and the stakeholders [owners and trainers] are just going to have to go with it.”
The trainers are being told, on occasions by their colleagues, that they cannot win races by leaving their horses standing in their stables. And they are criticised for describing ground as not safe, when all they want is ground on the soft side of good.
But ultimately it is the responsibility of the racecourses to produce ground that will attract runners.