Ground poser for Ascot
Ascot’s new clerk of the course Chris Stickels admitted today that for the foreseeable future it will be “a struggle” to produce identical conditions on the round and straight courses.
Speaking ahead of next week’s Royal meeting, for which the going is presently ‘good to firm, good in places on the round course’, Stickels admitted that drainage work on the newly-relaid home straight meant that conditions were unlikely to ever become testing – a fact which became evident at the track’s pre-opening fixture on May 27.
On that occasion in spite of substantial rain in the lead up to the fixture, the ground on the straight course had to be changed from good to soft to good to firm at a relatively late stage.
Stickels said: “It will be a struggle to get soft ground on the straight course, although reports from the jockeys at that first meeting suggested that it wasn’t as soft on the round course as many people thought.
“We have done extensive work drainage-wise on the straight course to try to achieve consistency but even in a situation of extreme rainfall I don’t think we’ll be able to get it any easier than good.
“It is obviously something that we have been looking at and the track is balancing out very well at the moment.”
Stickels revealed that there are two new watering systems at Ascot and that these could be used if there was a dry spell in the run-up to and during Royal week.
He added: “The pop-up system is on both the inside and outside rail and can be used most effectively at night when there is the least wind resistance.
“Further to this we have the boom irrigators which let out water droplets across the breadth of the track.”
Giving his first report on going conditions, Stickels observed: “The track is in excellent condition and has fully recovered from the last meeting.
“The going stick readings are 9.9 on he straight course and 8.9 on the round course – an average of 9.3 for both courses. There is a forecast of 4mm of rain, then two dry days followed by some showery weather from Thursday.
“Temperatures for the start of the meeting are expected to be around 22C and our aim is to start on good to firm conditions and to maintain it through the week.”
