THE response from teams of ground staff to a “relentless” spell of hot weather in Ireland has been given high praise by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) and the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association (IRTA), though no end to the current dry spell appears in sight.

July is always one of the busiest months in the Irish racing calendar, with 40 individual turf fixtures scheduled, and gargantuan efforts have been made to keep tracks watered for the purpose of delivering suitable racing ground.

Peter Roe, head of racing with HRI racecourses, has been pleased by a minimal number of going-related non-runners at the tracks he works with in recent weeks and says a proactive approach to irrigation has been key to the delivery of raceable surfaces.

“It’s the relentlessness of the situation that has made this so difficult for our teams - there’s no sign of a let-up in the next 10 days either,” Roe told The Irish Field.

“It’s been one of the more challenging periods that racecourses have had to face, but I have to say that the tracks I am involved with - Navan, Leopardstown and Fairyhouse - have been well served by acting ahead of time. The secret to managing these situations is probably not to be chasing yourself. It’s to get the water down in good time.

“Now, grass growth has certainly stopped and that’s not helping either. I think the biggest problem is that grass is getting heat stress. It’s not growing unless it’s being watered; it’s now gone into dormancy, which creates its own issues. Where you have a big Briggs system where you can water a big width of ground, it’s fine, but it’s making life an awful lot harder to water with other methods in terms of maintaining all the lines of ground you want.

“That said, grass is the most resilient of products. I can remember back in 2018 thinking it was dead, but a bit of rain went a long way and it did come back. It will come back again.”

Trainer reaction

Complaints from a small number of trainers in recent seasons regarding arguably over-watered ground have hit the headlines at times, but IRTA chief executive Feidhlim Cunningham says the vast majority of communication he has had with handlers during this heatwave has been overwhelmingly upbeat.

“I think you have to give the teams up and down the country every credit for their efforts during what has been a challenging time,” Cunningham told The Irish Field.

“Everyone knows how difficult it has been with the dry weather, but they have produced lovely ground and we have had very few complaints from our members regarding conditions. The clerks obviously deserve credit, but all their respective ground staff involved should be acknowledged too for their work in delivering suitable ground.”

Roe added: “All the various teams involved across all the tracks have done an amazing job. They’ve been wanting to come in early to get jobs done, putting on loads of suncream and just trying to get through it.

“From our three tracks with meetings last week, we only had one horse come to the races who didn’t run [due to ground conditions]. I think that’s a fair indication of where we’re going. You’ll never satisfy everyone, but the feedback has generally been very positive towards what we’re all doing.”

From midnight on Thursday this week to August 26th, a Water Conservation Order (better known as a hosepipe ban) has been instated for a number of areas with racecourses; namely Dublin, south Tipperary, parts of Kildare, Meath and Wexford (alongside Wicklow). However, Roe explained that this ruling does not impact the watering of tracks that have their own reservoir systems.

Individual resources

“There’s obviously a hosepipe ban in action around us, yet we’re very fortunate at Leopardstown, Fairyhouse and Navan to have our own reservoirs. These have been extended and they allow us to water away without taking anything off the mains. We’re taking our own harvested rainwater and staying independent of anyone else’s supplies. After the winter we’ve had, we’ve had sufficient water to do what we need!”

He added: “It’s hard to believe we’re here now from where Leopardstown stood at the Dublin Racing Festival, when we had to reschedule our first day [due to the track being unraceable].

“Even our classic trials day, which has produced so many good winners throughout the season so far, was run on testing ground back in mid-April.”

A considerable watering operation has been underway at the Curragh ahead of this weekend’s Juddmonte Irish Oaks meeting, with the track having been described as ‘firm’ all over on Thursday of last week and firm, good to firm in places as of Monday.

Curragh ready

Conditions have since eased, however. It is now officially good to firm, good in places, and Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board clerk of the course Paddy Graffin believes the ground will be ideal for top-class flat racing.

“We’ve been watering since last week and I’m pleased to say they’ve taken the firm out of it,” Graffin said in his update before declarations.

“I didn’t find any firm in my [mid-week] inspection. It’s beautiful, fast-side-of-good ground everywhere.

“There’s loads of moisture in there and the team is doing a fine job. Watering will continue into the weekend.

“These conditions are set to continue into the weekend, with temperatures in the mid-to-high 20s and a breeze blowing at the Curragh. Given all that, I think they’re doing an excellent job here. We have fresh ground for the entire round track and the straight track for Sunday. Conditions are lovely ahead of a great weekend.”