THE increased challenges facing racecourses in providing acceptable ground conditions was the main topic of discussion at a seminar staged at Naas Racecourse last Monday which was attended by over 100 industry professionals.

Organised by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board [IHRB], in conjunction with Horse Racing Ireland, the Irish Groundstaff Association and the Association of Irish Racecourses, the event drew racecourse managers, executives, track foremen, groundstaff, representatives of the jockeys and trainers associations, racing officials and agronomists.

Jennifer Walsh of the IHRB said: “The seminar was entitled ‘Racing on changing ground’ and the aim was to start a conversation between everyone involved on how the changing climate is affecting ground conditions.

“There was a lot of expertise in the room. We are all part of the one wheel and it was good to understand where everyone was coming from.

“Our weather patterns have changed very quickly and we will all have to adapt and figure out a way forward. This seminar was a starting point and I think a lot was achieved.”

This year’s record-breaking summer has been followed by a relatively dry autumn which has caused headaches for National Hunt tracks in particular across Ireland and Britain.

Last weekend’s Down Royal Festival saw over 30 non-runners due to ground conditions and the two Grade 2 races at Thursday’s Clonmel fixture had only four and three runners respectively.

Thurles is due to stage its first jumps meeting of the winter next Thursday. The seven-race card has attracted over 150 entries but the ground is officially good and likely to remain so.

Track manager Jessica Cahalan said: “We started watering earlier in the week and we’re continuing to water. We have fresh ground but there’s no rain coming so it is going to be good ground. Since last year we have easier access to water, it’s readily available, so there’s no difficulty on that front.

“We used to have three jumps meetings in October but that was changed last year and it was a very wise call.”

The situation in Britain is considerably worse. Last month’s Welsh Racing Festival at Chepstow was an all-hurdle race affair, and there are no chases at Sandown this Sunday, or at Lingfield and Hereford next week.

Kempton has lost two jumps cards already, Ludlow remains unraceable and Aintree has had to step in to stage a two-day meeting this weekend, replacing the Haldon Gold Cup and Badger Beer fixtures normally staged at Exeter and Wincanton.

Kempton’s clerk of the course Barney Clifford is praying for rain between now and the track’s next scheduled jumps meeting on November 23rd.

“It’s disappointing for everybody really, but we are in a drought situation,” he said.

“The ground is firm, good to firm in places. We’ve been irrigating since June 25th and we just need some help and some natural rainfall.

“I’d be hopeful for November 23rd because there is rain on the forecast from November 10th onwards. We haven’t had any rainfall really, even for the whole month of October we only had 56mm, so it’s unprecedented.”