'A full covering of snow in the second week of March didn't help' - Doncaster ready for Lincoln meeting despite tough winter

Clerk of the course Paul Barker has warned that Doncaster will lack its usual grass cover this weekend after a hugely difficult winter for track maintenance.

He stressed that people should not be put off by appearances and the course is “perfectly raceable” for the two-day Pertemps Lincoln meeting, which is the traditional start to the turf Flat season.

But, echoing Jon Pullin before the Cheltenham Festival, Barker underlined the challenges presented by frost, snow and unseasonal dry spells since the end of the 2022 campaign on grass.

He said: “There is nothing at all wrong with the ground and it is perfectly raceable, but the grass covering is sadly not where we’d want it to be aesthetically in all areas of the track.

“Since the November Handicap, which closed the 2022 Flat season at Doncaster, we have experienced 33 nights below 0C, which is over 50 per cent more than the same period the year before.

“To compound this issue, the freeze stuck around for much longer than previously – we had 11 consecutive freezing nights in December and another nine in January.”

Not a single drop of rain fell at Doncaster from January 15 to February 14, with just another 6mm recorded before March 1, and that prolonged dry spell was damaging at a time when grass should be embedding roots and growing.

“February and March have not been ideal months for the preparation of a turf track, by any means," said Barker, who has been clerk at Doncaster since 2021. “Due to the consistently colder than average temperatures, we have been forced to fleece the entire Flat track to help encourage growth. We’ve had covers down since the Grimthorpe Chase in early March, which will have helped for sure.

“Possibly most surprising was the full covering of snow we had on the track at the end of the second week in March. This is certainly not what you’d be expecting this time of year, to say the least.”

Planned track maintenance had to be put on hold due the freeze early in the year, but Barker added: “Once the temperatures did relent slightly we were able to get onto the course and scarify, drill and lay over a tonne of grass seed in early February.

“The subsequent lack of rainfall and the odd snow covering certainly hasn’t helped, but I must compliment estates manager Sam Parker and the team here who have been working incredibly hard to make sure we’re in good shape for the Lincoln and the season ahead.”

The ground was described officially as soft, good to soft in places on Tuesday, with rain forecast for Wednesday night into Thursday.

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