Cheltenham Racecourse Clerk says there is no risk of losing further meetings after a substantial amount of work was carried out on the track after a diagnostics check following The Festival brought about a discovery of unfit for purpose, outdated drainage systems. This posed a safety risk to the horses and jockeys and meant The April Meeting and May evening racing was cancelled.
“We weren’t expecting anything like that but its one of the challenges of managing turf, and the work we have done subsequently is to de-risk and hopefully prevent a similar occurence. The project was to replace the drain, that drain is 600 metres long so it was a significant project that we set out on.”
Embed from Getty ImagesWork on the effected area began instantly after a temporary fix was used during March, the entire system under the infamous Cheltenham Hill had to be completely revamped. The task of this huge project was left in the hand of course clerk Jon Pullin, he has confirmed that the necessary work has been completed ahead of the season opener, The William Hill Showcase, taking place on the 23rd and 24th of October.
This opening meeting will be the first since The Festival meaning there’s been a six month break in racing at Prestbury Park. The scheduled meeting in May was cancelled causing a major but necessary gap in the racing calendar.
“It was an extremely difficult decision to make, obviously we’re here to race and we want to race but what we recognised was the scale of the project and the fact we were in a really good position as far as recovery is concerned and the track has time to recover. We are in a good position to start the season.”
“We never had any doubts we would be ready for the season but it was definitely a challenge with the weather being dry and hot over the summer. The ground staff worked tirelessly to get us to this position and were delighted we’re able to be in this position. It’ll be good to get through this weekend incident free and reflect back on the challenges we have faced”
All eyes will be on Prestbury Park this weekend as racing gets underway for the first time this season.
