Mick Guerin tells us what's was Wrong and now is Right with the Ellerslie Track!

[Chief Stipe]

 

[curious]

??????

[Chief Stipe]

5 minutes ago, curious said:

??????

Don't get me started.  The fertiliser looks good!  Seems verti-draining is now going to be a regular activity less than a week out from a meeting?

The track is like a hydroponic system or pure synthetic with grass grown on top of it.  It isn't what I thought a Strathayr was.  Does Moonee Valley look like this?

[Trojan]

Looks like Te Akau might be a bit gun shy.  Only 3 entries.

[curious]

Looks like a sand track with a few sprigs of grass here and there?

[Chief Stipe]

7 minutes ago, curious said:

Looks like a sand track with a few sprigs of grass here and there?

You snapshot picture doesn't look too different to the ones I took at the beginning of the year.  If you verti-drain close to raceday then sure horses hooves will dig in.  Bit like grooming an AWT!

[Doomed]

1 hour ago, curious said:

Looks like a sand track with a few sprigs of grass here and there?

Looks like Ruakaka form might be the best guide when assessing Ellerslie.

[Chief Stipe]

21 minutes ago, Doomed said:

Looks like Ruakaka form might be the best guide when assessing Ellerslie.

Or the Cambridge Synthetic?

[curious]

I can see why Matt Cartwright said it could do with a bit more grass covering.

[Huey]

Brutal , honest & direct....yeah right!

[Chief Stipe]

43 minutes ago, curious said:

I can see why Matt Cartwright said it could do with a bit more grass covering.

Yes but would that bring back the sheer/surface tension problem?

[curious]

11 minutes ago, Chief Stipe said:

Yes but would that bring back the sheer/surface tension problem?

Surely not if the grass is properly rooted. It seems the problem stemmed primarily from one of the 5 rye varieties chosen for the mix. It evidently tends to spread roots laterally just below the surface. Whether or not they can manage that with continuous mechanical intervention, or whether it will have to be sprayed and reseeded remains to be seen. Until it's tested under racing conditions in similar weather conditions to those when the problems occurred, I don't think we will know.

It seems to me that fully reseeding without that rye grass variety might have been a safer option.

Edited September 17, 2024 by curious

[Chief Stipe]

17 minutes ago, curious said:

It seems the problem stemmed primarily from one of the 5 rye varieties chosen for the mix. It evidently tends to spread roots laterally just below the surface.

They didn't test or know that that variety had that phenotype?  In the local conditions?

[curious]

I believe that I read/heard that the grass mix choice was made in consultation with local experts, remembering that they chose to seed it themselves from scratch, not lay pre-grown turf as is more usual for Strathayr tracks, so I think they managed that themselves, rather than it being done by Strathayr.

Edited September 17, 2024 by curious

[curious]

I'd just add that if it were a decently informed interviewer talking to Wilcox, they would have asked that very question when Wilcox mentioned it. It was the first thing that popped into my head. How did it happen that grass was used in the first place?

Edited September 17, 2024 by curious

[Murray Fish]

I live in hope... and willing to pray for the needed result!

[Chief Stipe]

10 minutes ago, curious said:

I believe that I read/heard that the grass mix choice was made in consultation with local experts, remembering that they chose to seed it themselves from scratch, not lay pre-grown turf as is more usual for Strathayr tracks, so I think they managed that themselves, rather than it being done by Strathayr.

So they either:

1. didn't test the mix in local conditions before seeding the main track; and/or
2. the didn't manage the early growth to get the right phenotype response for the conditions.

Surely it was evident fairly quickly from the sampling they took that the lea wasn't growing how it should?

I guess their only option now is to constantly verti-drain and see if it comes right.  

[curious]

2 minutes ago, Murray Fish said:

I live in hope... and willing to pray for the needed result!

What result? A racing media interview that asks the hard logical questions?

[Chief Stipe]

Didn't Wilcox say after the February 26 trials/jumpouts earlier this year the exact same thing he said to Guerin after the latest trials?

[Kihikihi Kid]

I got a bad feeling about this ....

I really hope I'm wrong

[Murray Fish]

6 minutes ago, curious said:

A racing media interview that asks the hard logical questions?

as when "tickets are selling well"  ok, what number are you going to allow on course? capped at?

 

perhaps following up with  "an, any truth that a 'tight5' had been behind the increase in  tickets sales and plan a nice little earner scalping them!

 

sigh, as ever, I live in hope! for a track that works! and that we get the privilege of actually then getting Proper Actual Footage of the Horses  pre and post race! Gee, Imagine that!  Prelims shot from a proper angel! riders assisting, Actual Professioonal coverage for the Punter!  that sort of thing?

[Freda]

11 hours ago, Kihikihi Kid said:

I got a bad feeling about this ....

I really hope I'm wrong

Likewise....

[Huey]

37 minutes ago, Freda said:

Likewise....

No need they are 100% confident like they were last time.

[Huey]

As someone said they are eventually going to get it right, whether it sinks the industry in the process of doing it or not.

[Assange]

20 hours ago, curious said:

What result? A racing media interview that asks the hard logical questions?

Especially when Wilcox just shrugs off the cost factor. Not even a sorry we stuffed up. The money spent there would pay a lot of stakesmoney. Lets hope they got it right this time.