Redcar’s second match of the month was abandoned this week due to heavy rain. PETER BARRON Find out what it means behind the scenes when a race meeting is canceled
When Stephen Berry arrived at Redcar Racecourse on business at 5.30am on Monday morning, he had no reason to think that day’s meeting would not go ahead as planned.
After weeks of grueling grinding from Redcar’s track manager and his team of seven full-time ground crew, the 2024 season was finally ready to get underway at the seaside circuit where horse racing has been held for more than 150 years.
But then the heavens opened. Between 6 and 6.50 in the morning, 6 millimeters of rain fell on the already ‘heavy’ ground. This led to Stephen, along with Acting Clerk of Course Steve Gofton, conducting a precautionary review at 7.45am and they had no option but to abandon the meeting due to water accumulating on the track.
“It’s sad for everyone but the safety of the jockeys and the horses must come first,” said Stephen ruefully. “They may have taken more risks in the past days, but not anymore.”
Just over an hour after it was abandoned, the sun was shining on Redcar’s thick, wet grass, but it was too late to save the day.
Redcar is not alone in suffering from exceptionally wet weather. Race meetings across the country have been lost, but what makes this particularly frustrating for the Redcar team is that this is the second race in a row to be canceled this month.
The course’s 2024 season was due to open on April 1, the traditional family fun day for Easter Monday, but that too was forgotten.
Everything possible was done to stage the races two weeks later. With the ’round course’ still flooded, Redcar officials worked with the British Horseracing Authority to revise the race schedule for 15 April so that all seven races were to be run on the ‘flat course’.
Meanwhile, Stephen and his team repositioned the running track along three lengths of straight track to prevent further water accumulation on the ground. In addition, each race was limited to a maximum of ten runners to reduce the impact of the number of starting stops on soft ground.
But all this effort and planning, as well as heavy investment in Redcar’s drainage system in recent years, came to naught as nature proved irresistible on the morning of the meeting.
“There was nothing else we could do but we were at the mercy of nature and all that water had nowhere to go,” Stephen explained.
In 2022, 493 millimeters were recorded on the track’s rain gauge. Last year the total rose to 660mm and has fallen by 210mm since the beginning of this year.
“This is the worst period of prolonged rain I have ever known,” added Stephen, who has been a member of Redcar’s ground staff for 39 years, 15 of which following in his father John’s footsteps as track manager.
Having grown up just minutes from the racetrack, it’s been a part of his life for as long as he can remember, and his job has turned him into an obsessive weather watcher.
“I drive my wife crazy,” he admitted. “The first thing I do in the morning is open the curtains to check the weather, and I have all the weather apps on my phone.”
He even has a rain gauge in his backyard, and on many sleepless nights he has been known to go out in the dark and check the level with a torch, knowing how much danger he is in.
Indeed, what the public does not see when a race meeting is canceled is the extent of the logistical operation this entails. To prevent horses from being transported across the country, a decision needs to be taken as early as possible and a comprehensive communications exercise is put into place.
Around 500 people are needed in a long list of roles to organize a race meeting at Redcar. The list includes jockeys, trainers and stable staff, as well as race day attendants at turnstiles and car parks, caterers, security staff, paramedics, first aiders, vets, farriers, stall attendants, plumbers, electricians and technicians.
On Easter Monday, the expanded list included a host of family entertainment: stilt walkers, face painters, bouncy castle operators and the Easter Bunny himself.
When the race’s cancellation is announced on the morning of a meeting, the racetrack is forced to cover 100 percent of staffing costs and refund all advance tickets; This means Redcar has suffered a significant financial loss so far this year.
Redcar’s general manager Amy Fair said: “It’s been really tough but all we can hope for is that when we get good weather people will come out and support us.”
Redcar are scheduled to host a further 16 meetings this year, starting on 2 May and building towards the next big family day on Bank Holiday on Monday 27 May, featuring the historic Zetland Gold Cup.
“We will get this latest disappointment out of our systems and get back to doing whatever it takes before the next meeting,” Stephen added.
“Watch, in a few weeks we’ll probably have to water the rink because there’s too much sun!”
There’s a well-worn saying that there’s no such thing as certainty in racing, and Redcar’s experienced track manager knows that as well as anyone.