Dry spell goes on but track remains in excellent nick for racing

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

The prolonged spell of dry weather continues here at Bath.

Despite a light shower consisting of 1mm of rain on Sunday morning, the meaningful helping hand from mother nature we’ve been hoping for still hasn’t arrived.

It’s certainly been a testing period from a grounds management perspective, but the team have continued to put in a tremendous amount of work to ensure the track remains in excellent condition for racing.

Following the success of our last fixture, on Wednesday 15th July, preparations have been in full swing for racing again this evening, Friday 31st July.

Since last Wednesday, the team have been busy moving the running rail onto fresh ground, carrying out our watering programme and promoting recovery across the racing line.

The continuing warm temperatures have meant that grass recovery has required careful management. But thanks to the hard work of everyone involved, the course continues to be level with excellent grass cover despite some naturally discoloured areas.

For this evening’s meeting, we received 71 entries across the six-race card, which is a healthy number and very much in line with what many other racecourses are seeing at the moment.

At the time of writing, we hope that declarations morning will leave us with somewhere in the region of 35 to 40 runners.

The action will start at 5.35pm with an amateur jockeys’ contest over one mile and six furlongs.

Away from Bath, I’ve had the opportunity to visit a couple of other racecourses over the past week.

Last Wednesday I attended the summer jumping fixture at Worcester, and it was good to see how other courses are managing the challenges that this seemingly endless spell of warm, dry weather has created.

While our focus here is on producing safe Flat racing ground, Worcester face the additional challenge of preparing a surface suitable for National Hunt racing during the summer months.

It was an interesting day and meant I could catch up with some former colleagues from my days of riding over the sticks.

This week I headed to Ffos Las Racecourse to clerk their evening fixture.

Opportunities like these are always enjoyable, allowing you to work alongside different teams, and experience another racecourse’s operation and unique challenges each track presents.

Back at Bath, excitement is building for this evening’s fixture, not just because of the racing but also because we’ll once again be welcoming The Wurzels back to Lansdown.

As I mentioned in my previous column, this will be their 19th year performing with us, and they remain one of the highlights of our summer calendar.

With six races followed by live music and what’s likely to be another warm summer evening, all looks in place for what promises to be another memorable fixture.

We look forward to welcoming everyone back to Lansdown and hope you enjoy another excellent evening.