Busy period for Bath team at home and away as end of season nears

In the latest instalment of his Clerk’s Column, Bath Racecourse clerk of the course Ben Hicks writes exclusively for the Bath Echo.

It was great to see our Sprint and Stayers finals provide such a fitting finish to the series earlier this month, with both races producing competitive finishes and two very popular winners.

The Stayers Final went to Boilermaker, trained by Harry Charlton and ridden by Luke Morris.

Sent off the 11/8 favourite, Boilermaker completed a hat-trick of wins, getting the better of The Craftymaster by a neck, with Percy Jones back in third.

It was a good performance in the conditions, and a well-deserved result for the connections with the race carrying a £40,000 prize pot.

The Sprint Final was equally competitive, with Rinky Tinky Tinky causing something of an upset at 16/1 under Alice Bond. She got the better of favourite Legendsoftheland by half a length, with Sub Thirteen in third.

It was particularly pleasing to see two contrasting winners, one a well-backed favourite and the other a more unexpected result but both clearly very popular with their delighted connections.

The fog made things interesting during the afternoon, with visibility becoming quite limited at times, but it certainly didn’t dampen the spirits of the winning connections.

It was a great way to finish the series and, importantly, provided a valuable prize pot for horses that have supported the series throughout the season.

We were back racing again on Tuesday this week, 29th September, with another busy card supported by 95 declarations across nine races.

It was another good example of the support we continue to get from trainers and owners, and we were pleased to conclude the card with an Arab Racing Organisation race, which added something a little different to the afternoon.

Behind the scenes, the team continue to be busy away from Bath as well.

This week, members of our grounds and racecourse team have been supporting Chepstow as they prepare for the Welsh Racing Festival, which takes place from Wednesday 7th October to Sunday 11th October.

It gives the team another opportunity to gain experience of the preparation required for jumping fixtures, particularly as we get towards the end of our own season here at Bath.

These opportunities to work at other Arena Racing Company (ARC) courses are really useful.

Although the principles of preparing a safe racing surface remain the same, every course presents its own challenges, and there is always something that can be learnt from seeing how other teams approach their preparations.

As of this week, we now have just three meetings remaining here at Bath, so the end of our season is beginning to come into sight.

There is still plenty to look forward to, though, with the highlight of the final three meetings undoubtedly being the Listed Beckford Stakes on Thursday 8th October.

The Beckford is a 1m 6f race for fillies and mares and has always been a race we look forward to.

We are hoping for an attractive field this year, and it would be fantastic to see some Irish runners make the trip across as well.

With three meetings still to go, there is plenty of work ahead for the team, both here at Bath and supporting our colleagues at other ARC courses.

It has been a long and varied season, with plenty of challenges along the way, but we are now into the final few weeks and looking forward to finishing the season strongly.

I hope to see plenty of you back at Lansdown for our remaining fixtures.