Jumping back into winter at Windsor Racecourse
Jump racing has returned to Windsor Racecourse, 26 years since the ‘winter game’ last took place on the Berkshire track.
Meanwhile, Windsor has become renowned for its summer Monday flat meetings, which have been hugely popular with racegoers keen to make the start of the working week more enjoyable with an evening at the track.
Charlie Rees, in his third season as clerk at Windsor, stresses that plans for jumps racing were put in place to complement, rather than overshadow the flat season. Fixtures will also be carefully timed so that they do not negatively impact ground conditions for flat racing.
“Windsor has a highly successful flat programme but jumps racing is part of the track’s history. The former New Year’s Day meeting was renowned for highlighting future champions.”
He points out that owner Arena Racing Company has invested significantly in turf husbandry which has already benefited the track and should help to present the optimum going for jump racing. “And, although we are on an island in the Thames, the area very rarely floods due to the Jubilee Relief River.”
Work to develop a running line for hurdles and steeplechase fences began in October 2022, straight after the final flat meeting of the season, he explains.
A new fibresand canter down takes pressure off the pull up area and has the additional benefit of helping horses stay calmer on the way to the start.
“The flat track runs around a figure of eight, but jumps races will run around the outside of this with no crossover, so we’ve levelled an extra 1ha of land beyond the existing outer rail.”
Development involved Koroing off the top 10mm and then building the surface back up with a 70/30 soil/sand mix.
MK Services then mapped the area for a total of three miles of rail using GPS and surveyed each bend for its angle and grade.
“Windsor is a relatively flat track, but it has to ride safely,” comments Charlie. “The idea is to provide a ‘galloping’ track that will require some stamina.”
Races will be a maximum of 3 miles, in which case they will take run over two circuits of the track, and there will be four different start positions for the various race lengths.
Some areas where rail has been sited are being scarified and reseeded to improve turf quality.
Using GPS to create the positions to site the rail for the jumps track before the winter season was key, since they can’t be marked on the ground which is being used for flat racing, he explains.
Old rail removed during the development has been recycled by Duralock as part of the company’s environmental scheme – five tonnes of plastic were loaded into two articulated lorries, generating a ‘credit’ which was put towards the purchase of jump wings. A mile of new rail was also purchased.
Moving and siting rail is a key part of the ground staff role at Windsor – with 26 flat meetings each year, it’s the busiest flat track in the country. Only Newmarket holds more meetings, and these are on two separate tracks, the Rowley Mile and the July Course.
In August alone there are six meetings in four-and-a- half weeks. And by August 2024, the track had already hosted 1300 runners for the season.
With such pressure on the turf, preparing and preserving the sward has been an important strand of the project.
Preparations underway for Windsor’s return to jump racing include slitting and aeration to get the best from the free draining soils in winter and encourage strong sward growth.
Avoiding a crossover for the jumpers not only offers safety benefits but also protects the intersection which gets more wear than most parts of the course in the flat season.
On the new left hand track design, nine steeplechase fences will be placed on the outside of the bend, and have been built as portables by WF Racing of Richmond, Yorkshire.
“The fences are built on steel frames which have a hydraulic wheel unit allowing them to be towed into place the day before racing and towed off afterwards,” explains Charlie. “It’s easier to mow and aerate without fences on the track and it also means that they can be easily repositioned to give fresh ground for take offs and landings.”
Fence design includes cushioned take off boards and rails to protect horses making jumping errors; the birch is trimmed and shaped before they are put into use to meet the BHA’s standards on height and width.
Plan of the new jumps track, showing the position of the fences.
Leading jockeys, including former champion Richard Johnson, have offered input into fence positioning, including proximity to bends and use of land to avoid any downhill approaches.
Padded hurdles have also been specified for their horse welfare benefits; again these are sited and removed for each fixture.
The first meeting on 15th December will offer a £100,000 prize fund and will be followed by a new racing ‘festival’ run in partnership with neighbouring track Ascot.
“The weekend of 17-19th January will see the inaugural Berkshire Million meeting,” Charlie explains. “This will incorporate racing at Windsor on Friday, Ascot on Saturday and back to Windsor again on Sunday. There will be a prize fund of £1.3 million, and we hope to attract trainers from across the UK and Ireland. It should offer a good preparation for spring targets and become an important part of the campaign.”
The winners’ enclosure features an enlarged area for the first-placed horse to accommodate large groups safely; lavish floral displays add to Windsor’s ‘garden party’ atmosphere, but also increase the workload.
Berkshire’s prime location, good transport links and plentiful accommodation should also encourage plenty of racegoers, he hopes, including those more used to summer racing.
“We’re renowned for our garden party atmosphere and we aim to bring some of that to jumping and hopefully introduce a whole new audience to the sport.”
Ongoing maintenance will feature more aeration to keep the surface open and access the naturally free draining soils. This involves regular use of a vertidrain interspersed with a shockwave when conditions are right.
A new fibresand canter down has been installed to take pressure off the pull up area beyond the winning post, which is also on a bend and improvements to the surface are already evident. An unexpected benefit is that horses are much calmer when released by their handlers as they are away from the hubbub of the course, improving safety and preventing excitable animals from ‘running their race before it starts’.
The irrigation system has been comprehensively updated, including a new ring main to work with a more powerful Briggs pump.
Investment in the irrigation system has already paid off, notes Charlie. “We have a new Briggs diesel powered pump set and 3km of ring main, rated to 16 bar which feeds twenty hydrants. The new ring main has enabled us to add a 30mm Briggs boom, which covers the entire width of the track.”
The ability to water more efficiently, with less man hours, means that the process is also more consistent, rather than requiring large amounts of water at one go; of benefit in a summer which has been drier in the South East than forecasts would have suggested, he comments.
Other kit additions have included two Case IH Farmall tractors, part of a batch of 14 machines of this brand purchased by ARC this year, two ride-on mowers and an aerator, with a new Toro tractor mounted mower on order.
Groundstaff numbers have also been boosted with an extra member of the team added. Head groundsperson Steve Carpenter has been supported with the promotion of Chris Kelly to assistant head groundsperson.
A new boom can cover 30m, watering the entire width of the track more efficiently.
“It’s a relatively ‘new’ team,” says Charlie. “Most have been at Windsor just three or four years, but are all very enthusiastic and want to make their own contribution. We have the approach that ‘no idea is a silly idea’ and lots of developments, such as our new lavender lawn in the public enclosures, have come from ground staff suggestions.”
Charlie was the youngest clerk of the course ever to be appointed when he stepped up to the role in 2022, after working alongside predecessor Sophie Candy. But his family have always been in and around racing and he has depth of experience at Southwell, Newcastle and Doncaster.
He comments that the jumps racing plans have offered a huge motivation for the team, who have previously had an enormous workload in the summer followed by a relatively routine winter.
“However, it’s not just the racetrack that we have to look after – there’s 169 acres of estate, and the gardening takes a lot of work as there are many small lawns that have to be mown by hand. We took the decision to prioritise high profile areas such as the winners’ enclosure and pre-parade ring for striping up before the meetings.”
New portable steeplechase fences which will be towed into position ahead of each jumps meeting. They will be trimmed to the regulation size and shape by the grounds team.
Community and environmental work offers variety – Christmas trees are taken for recycling in exchange for a charity donation, and chipped to improve pathways for the Thames anglers, with bird boxes installed in surrounding woodland and trees removed due to ash dieback replaced with new saplings.
The track’s location means that it is also popular for non-racing events, which means keeping off-track areas spick and span all year round.
After the first winter of Windsor’s new jumps racing era in 2024/25, attention will turn to the next flat season which begins on April 28th 2025.
“We will have time for renovations at the end of February and beginning of March to give the fresh growth needed in time for the new flat season,” comments Charlie.
‘We’re hugely excited about this project and we’re confident that the investment by ARC and good groundsmanship from the team has given us the track condition and turf rooting depth needed for success.”