Top French tracks to introduce GoingStick readings alongside penetrometer

France Galop has introduced the TurfTrax GoingStick scale of ground description to run in parallel to its own traditional penetrometer readings for all the top Flat meetings.

Starting on Saturday at Deauville and set to include Longchamp, Chantilly and Saint-Cloud, 68 meetings annually will offer both readings in a measure designed to offer greater clarity to foreign-based trainers and punters, as well as an additional tool for those based in France.

A year-long study led by France Galop director of racecourses Matthieu Vincent concluded that the two methods were compatible and the GoingStick could be adopted, although further work would be required before it can be used over jumps at Auteuil.

Vincent said: "The penetrometer remains a proven tool which is very good at analysing the profile of a track and which is vital in planning irrigation."

The TurfTrax website will carry the same data as British and Irish tracks and use the same GoingStick scale as used in those countries.

The French penetrometer scale works in the opposite direction, with faster conditions at the bottom of the range and a rising number indicating more moisture in the ground.

For a long time there has been concern that what constitutes 'bon souple' in France does not map exactly on to what a British or Irish clerk of the course would call good to soft.

Running the two systems in parallel does not address that situation, since the penetrometer and the GoingStick are actually measuring different phenomena – the French system is more concerned with the resistance on the ground whereas the TurfTrax reading combines resistance when the stick goes in and when it is pulled out at a 45 degree angle.

The penetrometer reading at Deauville on Saturday late morning was 3.6 or souple (soft), while the GoingStick reading was 7.9 or good, good to soft in places.

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