The great irony in Sheffield losing a couple of races last Thursday was the fact that it proved the huge investment in replacing the drainage system and relaying the track has worked.
As the photo shows, the track was in pristine condition despite the sort of weather that might have previously turned the place into a quagmire.
Racing Manager Andrew Mascarenhas said: “It was the hare that failed with the pulley traps and hare rail becoming flooded. Unfortunately, it happened again in a sprint yesterday. That is now being addressed with a significant budget being allocated to the maintenance team to seek a long term solution. In the short term, it may be a case of buying battery operated pumps. But it is quite a big job because there around twenty of them.
“If we’d had that volume of water last year, the track would have been running anything probably between -50 and -70. In recent months, we’ve only had one meeting of -10 slow and that was after we had used the deep tines.”
One additional feature of the development work that still hasn’t been delivered in the new camera to be fitted at the third bend and looking along the homestraight.
Andrew said: “The guy was here last week sorting it all out. Everything is in place and it should be operating within the next three to four weeks. There footage will be available to TRP if they choose to take it, but also linked to a monitor in the stadium for the public to see.”
Trainer John Sharp has recently departed to Doncaster though the kennel strength has been boosted by the arrival of Phil Milner and Michael Field.
Andrew said: “The strength is particularly strong at the moment; in fact we probably have too many dogs. Ideally, excluding the opens, I would be looking for 360-370, when we actually have around 420. As a result, we ran an extra race on both Friday and Saturday last week and may be doing the same again this week.
“Going forward there is plenty going on in December. Apart from the British Bred Derby, there are the BGBF Sweepstakes which will have finals on the same night as the Derby. We also have the Gain Christmas Handicap and a race being sponsored by Andy Peters Racing. It should be a great run up to Christmas with plenty of prize money available.”
