A busy spell at Lansdown – and there’s a lot more racing to come

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

It’s certainly been a busy and intense period here at Bath, with the season now in full flow and plenty of racedays to keep everyone focused on.

The recent run of fixtures has provided a real test for the team – but it’s been rewarding to see things come together so well on racedays.

Our additional fixture, transferred from Brighton Racecourse, took place on Wednesday 29th April, just two days after racing on Monday 27th April.

It made for a quick turnaround but both meetings were staged on fast ground and produced some excellent racing.

The conditions allowed for some notably quick times – and there were competitive finishes across both cards, which the crowd gave plenty of cheers for.

The track itself was at full width for both days, and we were able to take advantage of a five-yard strip of fresh ground on the inside line of the home straight.

This is something we had deliberately saved earlier in the season, anticipating these quicker conditions, and it proved to be the right decision.

It allowed us to maintain a high-quality racing surface across both days despite the dry spell, and we had good feedback from jockeys and trainers on this.

There was an expected but welcomed shift in the weather as we approached our most recent fixture, on Monday 4th May, which was our Family Fun Day.

After a prolonged period of dry conditions, we received 16mm of rainfall across Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd May.

This was a welcome change and left us with good ground on the morning of racing, and increased the moisture levels by 20%.

The day itself began with thick fog and a damp feel in the air early on. However, as the day progressed, the weather improved nicely.

The fog lifted, the skies brightened, and by the time gates opened we were able to welcome many families to the racecourse in much more pleasant conditions.

It was fantastic to see so many people enjoying the day, with plenty of entertainment on offer alongside the racing.

Looking ahead, there is no let-up in the schedule, with a two-day fixture fast approaching on Tuesday 12th and Wednesday 13th May, the first day being a transferred Chepstow fixture and the latter being an evening meeting.

The forecast in the lead-up suggests a more unsettled spell of weather, so there’s every chance we could see conditions on the easier side by the time we get to Tuesday.

From a grounds perspective, the anticipated rain will allow us to apply another wetting agent to the track, helping to retain moisture as we move into what will likely be a much more drying spell of weather in June/July.

Utilising any rainfall is very important in line with remedial works at the track, and we try to do this to maximise the benefit in the long term.

We’ll also be welcoming support from the team at Chepstow Racecourse, who’ll be joining us to assist with track set-up across the two days.

It’s always valuable to have that collaboration between courses, and I’m sure it’ll help ensure everything runs smoothly.

All in all, it remains very much all systems go at Bath, and we look forward to delivering another two enjoyable and successful race meetings next week.