GOWRAN Park and Wexford Racecourse manager Eddie Scally has described the recent weather-related challenges facing his tracks as a “complete and utter nightmare”, after he was forced to call off two meetings at two different tracks on the same day this week.

An effort to reschedule Wexford’s abandoned St Patrick’s Day card came unstuck due to further rain, while Gowran faced the unusual situation of being called off eight days before its intended fixture next Wednesday.

Scally told The Irish Field: “It’s never happened before that we’ve had to call a meeting off this far in advance due to weather. I’ve been in racing for 13 years and have never experienced this. We called it early, firstly, to give trainers the opportunity to place their horses elsewhere.

“Secondly, it would give certainty to the industry in terms of planning and, thirdly, when I saw other tracks calling off meetings, I wanted our Wednesday slot to be open to them in good time if needed. It’s in nobody’s interest to call off a meeting on Wednesday morning when I know in my heart of hearts that it won’t be raceable by then.”

On the heavy rainfall over the winter and early spring, he added: “This winter has been a complete and utter nightmare. Across the 13 years here, I think we called off three fixtures in the first 12 years due to weather. In the last year alone, I think we’ve had four meetings rescheduled or cancelled due to waterlogging.

Water table rising

“There’s been an increase of 300mm of rain in the last six months than was the case in the same six months a year earlier. You’re talking about an extra 12 inches of rain. We lost Denny Cordell Day in September and had to replace it, and after getting that replacement we were on bottomless heavy ground for every meeting through the winter. I think we had four inspections for five fixtures. It’s been unprecedented.”

Scally says there are plans to develop further works on the drainage system at Gowran Park, but acknowledged that there is an element of fighting nature when dealing with such significant rainfall.

“For jumps racing it’s not as severe, but there can be a knock-on of sorts from the watering we have to do during the summer,” he explained.

“We watered for each fixture in April, May and June last year, and then we end up getting a monsoon in July, August and September. When it should be getting a chance to dry, it’s getting watered and then when the rain comes it can’t handle the amount it’s getting.

“It’s a similar story with Wexford. Last season we would have watered for every single fixture there, bar the October meeting that we lost due to a waterlogged track. It’s nature and you can’t beat nature.

“We use a GoingStick for our ground and the higher the number, the faster the ground. The year before Covid, we’d describe nine on the GoingStick as good to firm. Now it’s seven and a half. Whether we like it or not, we’re slowing the ground down a little more than we did in the past. It’s for the betterment of lots of things. There are probably less injuries and science behind it, but we are watering more.”