York Racecourse is no stranger to drainage problems given that it’s located on a flood plane which is fed by the river Ouse, with rain from the Yorkshire Dales providing a flood risk even when it isn’t raining in the local area.
But Adrian Kay, head groundsman at the course for nine years, and Alan Chappelow, director at Chappelow Sports Turf, have finally found a way to co-exist with the age-old problem which has seen numerous approaches tried to remedy the issue.
Getting the surface right for horse racing is vitally important for the safety of the horses and jockeys as well as having a big impact on how the track performs with the ‘going’ of the course suiting different horses.
At Adrian’s request the Koro TopDrain was brought in to provide a more efficient use and movement of moisture through the indigenous soil profile into the primary drainage, as he explains.
“We want to provide a high standard of racing surface and the consistency of the track is of paramount importance and using the TopDrain is helping us to provide that.
“Since starting with the TopDrain we have done seven hectares and you can definitely tell the difference in those areas and we’re finally starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Alan has also been impressed with the machine having used it for three seasons, and despite knowing what it can do he was also very impressed with how it’s dealt with the problem.
“It’s been very effective, fantastic really, the results have been unbelievable, so much so that there are now plans to do the whole course,” he said.
“We are into our third season with it now and we’ve done a lot of work with it on multiple surfaces with good results every time.”
