Artificial watering of tracks is a tricky job to get right in hot weather With temperatures set to stay high over the coming weeks it will be a testing time for groundstaff and competitors alike. In the last week alone we saw 28 non-runners at Cork on Tuesday due to significant going changes after heavy rain. Then on Wednesday the final race at Gowran Park was abandoned due to horses slipping on a bend in the previous contest, while on Thursday it was announced that three chases scheduled for a fixture at Clonmel on 5 June have been cancelled due to more issues with the going. Saturday’s latest ‘holegate’ incident in the UK at Haydock Park, is a little more difficult to attribute directly to the effects of weather or artificial watering, but rarely does a week go by these days without some issue or other with the racing surfaces. Artificial watering systems have become a mandatory tool in the arsenal of groundstaff at Irish racecourses and these systems will be pushed to their limits in the coming weeks as each track strives to ensure ‘safe ground’ for their fixtures. In the coming days we have meetings scheduled at tight circuits such as Ballinrobe, Tramore and Kilbeggan which can be particularly tricky to navigate on quick ground. It is also imperative to have some juice in the ground for tracks hosting summer jumps racing. Artificial watering of racecourses is not an exact science and while each section of track can require a different approach, a hot sunny day can evaporate much of the water before the racing action even gets underway. It will be no easy task for the IHRB’s Clerks of the Courses to get this balance right as temperatures creep into the mid-twenties. Aside from the ground conditions, there are also other dangers lurking for the competitors as the temperatures rise. On hot days horses can overheat and need to be cooled down immediately after racing, while jockeys wasting to do light weights are also at high risk of dehydration. All of this must be factored into the mix by racecourse officials. The warm weather worked in favour of Guineas weekend at the Curragh where the official going dried out to Good, Good to yielding in places, by the start of the action on Saturday. The word ‘yielding’ had disappeared completely from the official description by the time the 1000 Guineas was run on Sunday afternoon. Top class Flat racing is generally at its best on a quick surface and I’m not quite sure why the Curragh deemed it necessary to intervene with selective watering in advance of the weekend. Can the word ‘firm’ not appear anywhere in the going description for an Irish Classic anymore? In any case the big races lived up to their billing with some excellent renewals and even on ground which was on the easy side of Good we still saw a few defections. Maybe Good to Firm going would rule out the majority of competitors these days. I fully expect that the 12,011 in attendance at the Curragh across the weekend had a lovely time soaking up the sun while watching some of the best action the flat side of the sport has to offer. The attendance looked decent on both days by Curragh standards, but it was nonetheless a tad disappointing to see crowds just one or two deep along the rail adjacent to the winning post while watching the action on TV. The UK fixtures on the Saturday afternoon at York, Goodwood, Haydock and Cartmel were thronged. Twenty deep near the finishing lines at both Goodwood and York, maybe a touch less at Haydock, while picnicking crowds flanked almost the entire circuit for the jumps fixture at Cartmel. The Curragh attendance was marginally up on both Saturday and Sunday when compared to 2025, but we are still dealing with only 6,000 odd people interested in turning up to watch an Irish Classic. We cannot blame the quality of the horses in action at the Curragh last weekend on attendance. 16 high class British-trained runners across the two days is something that the organisers of the Dublin Racing Festival (DRF) could only dream about. We also cannot blame the weather (this time) or indeed the facilities which are far superior to most tracks. And we certainly cannot say it has anything to do with admission prices. It was cheaper to attend a Group One fixture at the Curragh last weekend (€30 online price) than it was to go to Goodwood (£39) for an average card featuring two Listed contests. It was also free entry for under 18s at the Curragh, while under 16s are often charged a fiver to get into GAA games. Some might argue that the dominance of Ballydoyle trained horses at the likes of the Curragh is a turnoff, but a similarly dominant outfit over jumps hasn’t impacted the popularity of the likes of the DRF or Punchestown. I suppose it is most likely down to a lack of interest in flat racing in general in Ireland. But I’m not quite sure why that has become the case. It wasn’t always that way. I’m old enough to remember huge crowds at the Curragh for the Irish Guineas and it’s not that long ago that the Irish Derby was one of the hottest tickets of the entire Irish sporting calendar. But sadly not any more. Back to the earlier theme of ground condition, I see that the construction of the new all-weather track at Tipperary is well underway. All-weather racing is even further down the pecking order than the turf version of flat racing in the popularity stakes of the Irish race going public, but in theory all-weather racing should present a better betting opportunity for punters. One of the biggest variables when it comes to a horse's performance - ground conditions - becomes consistent and standardised. I presume the main reason all-weather racing is the poor relation of its turf equivalent here is the low quality of the fare on offer. Low grade handicaps and claiming races are never going to draw a crowd. It will be interesting to see if the new track at Tipperary fares any better than Dundalk on the quality front. It is after all a HRI-owned racecourse and it wouldn’t be a complete surprise to see a higher quality programme of races scheduled to facilitate one or two of the big training outfits in the locality.
