Leicester facing 'freak situation' after month without rain and inability to water

Officials at Leicester have warned conditions for Thursday’s all-chase card will not be ideal for winter jump racing owing to a month without rain and the inability to water.

The irrigation licence at the East Midlands track runs from April 1 to October 31 and no rain is forecast in the lead-up to next week’s meeting, with the going described as good, good to firm in places.

Clerk of the course Jimmy Stevenson has worked at Leicester for just short of three decades and cannot recall such extremes of weather during the winter.

He said: “It’s a bit of a headache for next week and it’s such a freak situation for this time of year. By the time we get to raceday we will have gone a month without any rain, which is incredible for winter – it really is extreme. I’ve been working here 29 years and never had the going as quick as this in February. All the clerks in the country would not be expecting to be watering at this time of year.

“It might ride a bit quick on Thursday and it’s certainly not ideal for winter jump racing but I don’t think there will be any problems with it. It’s unlike autumn quick ground as we have had rain during the winter so there is moisture down there – it’s just the top dries up.”

Stevenson believes protracted spells of weather is a sign of climate change, with winter ground vulnerable to rainfall when it arrives after dry spells combined with regular fixtures through the jumps season.

“We’ve had waterlogging, frost and then to even think about watering now is just mad,” said Stevenson. “The weather is extreme and people don’t realise if it’s not part of their job. We’re getting an extremely dry period for three or four weeks then an extremely wet period – it’s very intense and it seems to be the pattern of the weather.

“The going can change quite dramatically when the rain comes as you’re on damaged ground. You could go from good to firm to soft ground and it would not take a massive amount of rain as at this time of year most of the tracks have a lot of wear on them.”

Catterick: unable to water prior to Monday's fixtureCredit: Tim Goode (Getty Images)

Catterick faces a similar scenario for Monday’s fixture, with the North Yorkshire track unable to water and clerk of the course Fiona Needham calling the ground as good, good to firm in places on Friday.

Needham said: “It’s bizarre to even think you would want to water in February. We’re having a prolonged dry spell and the weather patterns do seem to be changing. It was forecast to be quite windy this week but it hasn’t been fortunately, so the ground hasn’t dried as much as it could have done. It will be on the quick side of good, whether it swaps to good to firm, good in places we’ll have to wait and see.”

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