January is now an unpleasant memory, and early thoughts of Spring are on the far horizon.  However early February has been dominated by a cold northerly wind, reminding us that winter is far from over.

The forecast conditions for Plumpton for the coming days leading up to the meeting on Monday, 15th February, is mainly dry with overnight frosts. We are deploying covers over the entire course on Thursday afternoon having already covered our more vulnerable landing and take off areas on Wednesday.

Sunday night is not predicted to have a severe frost at this stage, and Monday is likely to see temperatures rise as rain is forecast for later in the day.

We have been recording rainfall figures at Plumpton since the winter of 98/99, and I can honestly say that last month was the wettest November “since records began” with a total rainfall of 257mm or ten and a quarter inches if you prefer.

December has started equally wet with 76mm of rain over the first eight days, but enough talk of rain.  If the weather men have got things right we can look forward to a much drier period leading upto next Monday’s meeting. The Going Report should therefore show improvement over the next few days so watch this space!

Only a little over a month ago we were praying for some rain. Now with December just round the corner, we are thinking enough is enough, with the November rainfall to date standing at 182mm.

The going is officially heavy as of today,  and I am watching the forecast charts daily.  Early indications are that next week, from Tuesday onwards, we should see less rain and temperatures turning slightly cooler.

Due to our ongoing investment in drainage, Plumpton can take more rain than years gone by. The 24 hour period prior to racing is the most crucial, and I will keep the Going report regularly updated on the Home Page as we approach the meeting.

With only two dry days so far this month, the November rainfall to date is 55mm – a little over 2 inches in old money.

The ground is changing and following yesterday’s 3.5mm, the going is now Good to Soft (9am 11th Nov).

With the current forecast of more rain before next Monday’s meeting, winter ground is here at last!

With autumn here and our new meeting being the first of two November fixtures, you could normally expect colder nights and some rain. Well October it would seem is going out like a lamb with higher than normal temperatures and very little rain. Last week heralded 20mm of rainfall, and so far this week nil.

The forecast for the weekend suggests some decent rain will come on Sunday, the eve of the raceday, with predictions between 12mm and 20mm a possibility. The decision has therefore been made not to water as ground conditions border on good, and a little rain would be ideal to maintain.

With the first meeting of our new season under our belt, the groundstaff have been very busy repairing the course by re-instating the ground and top dressing where necessary.

The biggest issue for all Groundsman this autumn has been the unusually prolonged dry spell and for us looking to feed the grass it presented the problem of either waiting for rain or feeding and then irrigating, we chose the later with fertiliser applied on the last day of September and a circuit of irrigation last Thursday and Friday.

This week of course, as someone’s law once said, the rains have come with Monday alone heralding 8mm of much needed rainfall and indeed yesterday a further 10mm of rainfall was recorded. The track itself is looking very well and apart from a small rail movement necessary on both bends the layout for the next meeting will be very similar to the September Ladies day meet.

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With the first meeting of our new season fast approaching, it’s all hands on deck.

Watering has taken place every day since Monday 7th September. Until yesterday we have not had a drop of rain. On Tuesday we had 4mm of rainfall, the first recordable rainfall since the 3rd  September.

Our irrigation system is of the tow- line variety which is a labour intensive operation which takes a good many man hours out of each day. There are 22 sprinklers working at any one time, over a distance of two furlongs, each capable of putting on 6mm of water per hour.

The groundstaff’s hard work is certainly making sure that the going holds as Good to Firm, and who knows if we get more rain before the weekend the ground could be even better.

To date to Tuesday a little over 400,000 gallons have been applied, and we will not stop until either sufficient rainfall arrives or Saturday evening, which ever comes first.

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When the racing season finishes, we don’t have time to put our feet up as with the rapid grass growth, this is the time to repair and improve the track and our facilities, alongside preparing it for the season ahead.  As well as clerking, I also manage Mak, John and Alan, our full time Groundscare team.

Plumpton Racecourse is one of the smallest tracks in the country, and with very limited width and an extremely difficult clay-based surface, it’s not the easiest to manage and needs year round attention.

This summer we’ve completed gravel banding works on the stable bend area, and the entire track has been “verti-drained” to help alleviate compaction and further enhance the operation of the drainage system.

Plumpton had historically been very susceptible to water logging due to the clay based surface. We have now invested over £100K in drainage improvement works, which has greatly improved the track’s ability to handle very wet conditions and the racing surface.

Over the summer we have also invested in replacing the roofs of our stable yards, which in places date back to the 1950s. The welfare of horses is very important to us, and we are always looking at ways we can improve our facilities.

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