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Which racecourses are generally considered good ground courses in inclement weather and which are generally considered soft ground courses in a dry spell?
Musselburgh is a definite ‘good ground course’. I believe each meeting over the past two jumps seasons has included the word ‘good’ in the going description. I put a line through much of the soft/heavy ground form from other courses when assessing Musselburgh races.
Rob
From a base in Lambourn, if I was looking to enter a horse needing good ground in mid winter, I’d go for Fakenham, Ludlow, Huntingdon and Leicester (chases only).
If I was looking for soft ground when it was good everywhere else, I’d go for Chepstow and Uttoxeter.
Wincanton would have made the first list, but in the last two seasons, the entire nature of the surface there seems to have changed beyond measure.
AP
You will never get firm ground at Market Rasen even in the middle of a drought. Good reason to ban overwatering of courses.
Thanks for the reply’s, I had musselburgh in the back of my mind when when I was considering this and pleased to see my assumption backed up be others analysis. Some other tracks noted which would not immediately spring to mind as such. Thanks again.
AP I have noticed the same change at Wincanton. Would love to know why….. They finish strung out like the washing these days.
Regarding winter NH
Doncaster usually provides decent going. Their meetings this season – which by any standards has been harsh weatherwise – have been run on G or GS
Carlisle is normally deep to bottomless. No meetings have survived since the end of November and the two in that month were run on S and H
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Ffos Las and Doncaster provide decent ground because of their ‘state of the art’ drainage, as does Ascot.
At the other end of the scale, courses like Worcester and Lingfield only need a shower to become a mire, and heavy rain normally means they won’t be racing.Carlisle is normally deep to bottomless. No meetings have survived since the end of November and the two in that month were run on S and H
I’m not absolutely sure, but I would imagine that most if not all the recent call offs at Carlisle have been due to frost or snow. Last season the course was very wet all season, practically every meeting featured heavy going, yet they managed to get most meetings on.
Of the other courses in my area:
Perth – race only spring and summer so going is normally pretty decent. It can quickly become testing after heavy rain.
Kelso – fair to middling, can be testing in the winter but dries out quite well.
Ayr – suffered last season from almost continuous heavy going. Being on the west coast it gets more rain than other courses, but can drain well given the chance and showed up good to soft ground recently.
Hexham – tends to extremes, heavy in the winter but quickly becomes fast in the summer.Rob
Beat me to it, Rob. Carlisle, and also Towcester to a certain extent, will often reach a given level of swampiness readily enough, but don’t seem to lose too many meetings having done so. Forumites with better grasps of course husbandry than I will have some idea as to why that can be.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
Catterick is a bit of an odd one. It’s on gravel, so basically drains quite well, but the top layer cuts up very easily and Catterick ‘soft’ appears more strength sapping than soft going elsewhere.
As you rightly say Catterick is situated on gravel beds and essentially drains well. However the top soil is the stiff clay loam (Glacial Drift/Boulder Clay) common to much of the Vales of Mowbray and York, hence it does become holding when saturated
Diligent course husbandry obviously plays its part in providing a course’s surface characteristics but it will always be secondary to the underlying nature of the soil and bedrock geology.
Doncaster has always had a reputation for providing decent winter ground (and spring/autumn Flat) as the characteristic heavy loams of the Yorkshire Vales mentioned above become altered hereabouts to a lighter sandy loam due to and derived from (in part) the nearby narrow outcrop of Magnesian Limestone to the west
Fakenham is similarly light and Musselburgh is duneland of course
The Carlisle area has a high annual rainfall, possibly the highest of any course in Britain, and I’d suggest the reason it tends to get heavy but doesn’t flood is due to it being in an elevated situation.
Hexham too is elevated but sits in a bowl so does tend to get waterlogged
The topography of Towcester may well aid drainage too
You’re right Rob, the Carlisle meets lost this year were due to frost/snow
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