WITH plenty of heat still in the ground, the grass is growing well at Down Royal in advance of next month’s Festival of Racing and the track was spiked this week to open it up slightly.

“The track is in brilliant order with a great covering of grass,” reported general manager Mike Todd on Monday following one of his regular walks around the near-two mile circuit. “We do everything we can here to produce ideal going for both flat and National Hunt racing with spiking and/or aerating taking place each month. “With Grade 1 and Grade 2 chases on the two-day programme for the festival we want to have everything in perfect order and the fences have been moved on to fresh ground in the middle of the track. Also, we have refurbished and widened the canter down to the two mile start with a sand and rubber mixture.