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Hello fellow sand bugs.
Question with regards to Southwell All weather course?
Does any one know the exact rolling method employed at Southwell race course? In fact all the all weather courses in the uk? Any relevant info would be most welcome.
Maybe someone who works at one of the courses would care to enlighten me?
Many thanks.
Possibly a question for Maxilon5, our resident Southwell mainstay, if anyone. I didn’t know they rolled it at all, to be honest, just spiked or harrowed it.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
southwell fibresand is definitely rolled or levelled between races.
Don’t think there is any treatment to the polytrack courses during racing, but not 100% sure
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Harrowed and then rolled – after every race, IIRC.
I don’t think Southwell is rolled after every race, RH. I’ll have to check. I’m not sure the Fibresand composite would withstand it.
There are three tractor-pulled harrows down there and occasionally, you can see all three in action after each race on the straights – particularly in mid-winter.
If you took a stroll down to the start straight after a race, you can easily see why a middle draw is favourable: The main harrow travels straight down the middle.
I have a theory that the harrowing spreads an amount of extra composite to the edges – like a sprinkler spraying water on a lawn. As a result, the far rail in particular is difficult to navigate and the middle has an advantage.
At one time, you could back the one box blind in five furlong sprints. You’d be living in a skip behind Newark Morrisons if you tried that now. I put that down to the harrowing (and strong Easterly winds, it must be said.)
You really don’t want anything to do with draws 1 or 2, at any trip. I’d rather have a wide draw than a low draw every time. I lost a tidy wedge on a backed animal over
1m 6f
five weeks ago, when the pilot stuck religiously to the far rail and was beaten by a plodder who took the middle – freshly harrowed – course.
I’ll find out this afternoon, health permitting, what the harrowing policy is. I’ll speak to one of the tractor drivers, RH.
Incidentally, I had a run down the course on Tuesday.
The first two furlongs of the 5f chute were pristine, untouched. It reminded me of the white sands of "Lawrence of Arabia, but the last three furlongs were – with the exception of a strip the width of a cricket pitch down the middle of the course – churned up, due to horses working on the course.
For those of you who are not aware, plenty of local trainers work their horses at the Sandpit. David Nicholls’ Retford man, Garry Moss, spends more time down there than he does at home. Derek Shaw, too. Those workhorses tend to work against a rail, either on the far side or the stand side.
I wouldn’t be touching draw one or two this afternoon, at any trip, nor a high draw in the 5f contests. Those strips take a pounding.
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