Having acknowledged an injury spike earlier in the year, Towcester launched an internal review of its track preparation. The net result was the setting up of a new monitoring and preparation regime. Racing manager Chris Page has the latest details:
‘Several weeks ago we commissioned a report into the running surface at Towcester. Whilst the surface had performed well during Nov – Feb we began to notice an increase in reported injuries during March and April. Whilst these injuries did not affect all trainers, any change in injury patterns concerns the Towcester management. We sought advice from various industry figures, most of which was contradictory. However one consistent thread was the need for increased watering as the temperature turned warmer. We were putting between 30-40,000 gallons of water on the track each race day. We stepped up the watering and saw a marked reduction in injuries. However I was still not convinced that this was a viable long term solution.
The report produced by Richard Payne (Asst. Professor of Veterinary Medicine at Nottingham University ) now gives the Towcester management a scientific basis to on which to move forward. In simple terms the report states that each track is unique and has its own ‘microclimate’ and that whilst other tracks use the same sand as Towcester their particular circumstances are different. Towcester is an elevated track and without shelter from adjacent grandstands is more exposed to wind than any other tracks. The drainage system installed is ideal for winter conditions but is too efficient in summer. This has been exacerbated by the recent warm weather .Obviously these things only come to light as the seasons change
The track maintenance schedule suggest by Professor Payne designed specifically for Towcester has coincided with the availability of Jeff Sealey to come on board at Towcester as a consultant. Jeff will be preparing the track for all meetings with immediate effect. I have personally known Jeff for 15 years and commissioned him to do the alterations at Walthamstow. He is also well known from Reading and installed and maintained the track at Coventry which was the industry leader in terms of a safe track. He owns the Bicester schooling track which is used by several of the leading trainers in the South and he will be schooling hurdlers for Towcester.
Jeff has a lot of ideas to refine and improve a variety of things at Towcester . Jeff has told the management here that in his opinion Towcester is the best designed track in the country and he is confident that a few tweaks here and there will iron out any issues we are currently experiencing.
The immediate plan is for us to see how the track reacts to the new maintenance regime over the next fortnight. If there are still issues a new, more water retentive sand will be laid. We must be certain however that any actions taken to alleviate summer conditions do not cause problems later in the year and over the winter .
We will also be looking into a new race distance of 500m (with the starting traps set back 20m behind the existing traps). This will enable a longer run to the first bend . The initial design did not incorporate longer straights as we were not prepared to compromise on the Veterinary advice we had received on bend radius and subsequently by extending the straights this would have an impact on race distances ie 20m longer straights would mean a standard distance of 540m and a stayers distance of 735 which would lead to problems in having a sufficient kennel strength for our racing schedule.’
