The Brooklandwood racecourse turf

The Club House Turn at the 2000 Queen's Cup

Every spring either during the race day or shortly thereafter, I'm asked about our turf and how we get it so thick and lush, green and weed free. Many say our turf (turf type tall fescue) is better than most people's backyards.  Well the truth is we set aside and invest over $35,000 annually in turf improvements because healthy, lively turf and the ground underneath the turf (otherwise known as going) make for safer racing for both athletes - the horses and the jockeys. It's a team effort and it's a never ending job on everyone's part. Here are a few hints we're learned along the way.

First, TruGreen is a true partner and much of the credit of our healthy, lively, weed free turf goes to the staff at TruGreen in Charlotte. We've partnered with TruGreen since the very start of the Queen's Cup Steeplechase in 1995 when we asked for their help with our original racecourse we leased down in southern Union County.  TruGreen has Brooklandwood on their year-round plan treating the soil three times in the spring and twice during the fall. Bottom line - If you have thick, healthy grass, you'll almost never need to treat for weeds. TruGreen's GM Rick Balser and their turf supervisor Josh Jackson are dedicated to making Brooklandwood one of the best and safest racecourse on the circuit.

The Aerway aerator

Second, we aerate the turf with an Aerway aerator at least three times a year. The Aerway has deep, tough tines and with heavy weight on top, is able to push through and break-up the red clay sub-soils thus allowing air to get down to the root level where the health of turf begins. Aerating also helps cutting through the thatch which can build-up over time which if not kept in check, promotes disease.

Third, make sure your turf's soil is well balanced. Our red clays here in the Piedmont region of North Carolina is naturally acidic and testing your soil at least every three years gives you a gauge of when it's time to lime the soils. Too low or high in PH and you're throwing expensive fertilizer down the drain. Test your soils composition regularly. It's cheap and easy to do.

Fourth, we constantly cut the racecourse turf and do not allow it to get much above 5" in height. You've heard it before but keeping your blades sharp and cutting the grass with regularity with a high tip speed grooming mower makes all the difference in the world and allowing thatch to slowly build up keeping the soil and roots cool and moist. Ideally, you never want to cut more than 1" off the top which keeps the grass from clumping which can kill grass. When the spring weather breaks, it's not unusual that we're out there cutting the racecourse in late February or early March cutting off the damaged leaf tips which tells the grass it's time to come out of hibernation. Cutting your turf regularly is not only healthy for promoting thick grass but it also stresses the grass, in a good way, throwing energy down to the roots. Having direct sunlight on the racecourse all day and year-round helps move air and keeps down disease.

Looking up the stretch 4 weeks before race day

Fifth and finally, it's important to keep an eye out for disease and critters that are constantly attacking your turf. We've had several years of army worms, various kinds of grubs and sometimes both pests all at the same time decimating our turf. Usually, these critters attack in mid-to-late August and into September. We've had such a significant problem with grubs that we now spray MERIT as a preventative measure in early July when the June beetles and chafers are at full swing.

There are a number of other weekly and monthly chores we do during the course of the year, but these are the key elements to building successful, healthy turf with deep roots.

Once in a blue moon - Chapter One

The National Fence (Douglas Lees photo)

Once in a blue moon, we all have the opportunity to make a significant change to a community. This opportunity presented itself over three years ago when I considered building a new fence that our steeplechase horses raced over at speed. 

Since 1973, when Secretariat hit the scene as a three-year-old going on to win the Triple Crown, there isn’t anything I have not loved about horses, particularly the Thoroughbred. As an owner of steeplechase race horses since 1992, I have probably owned outright or in partnership over thirty race horses, most of them jumpers. So intrigued with this beautiful sport, my wife and I also founded the QUEEN’S CUP STEEPLECHASE in 1995, now considered by most horsemen to be one of the finest (and safest) steeplechase racecourses on the sanctioning body's National Steeplechase Association's (NSA) circuit. 

Safety has always been my mantra, though I am realistic to know that sometimes, horse and rider get hurt; sometime catastrophically. Riding horses in general, and race riding in particular, is by its very nature, a very dangerous sport. In the 22 years I have owned race horses, I have had a number of my own horses maimed and a couple suffered the ultimate fate while racing. Two exceptionally nice ones paid the ultimate price. Interestingly, both horses were talented jumpers but for whatever reason, decided to go long, landing squarely on top of the frame, both with devastating results. Over the past few years, I have had jockeys, owners and trainers share their stories of their favorite horses being lost or seriously injured due to the fence they competed over, not to mention the serious injuries some jockeys have received due to their mount taking a fall. 

The loss of horses and those stories were the impetus to investigating and eventually creating a new, state-of-the-art fence that would be more forgiving in the event of a jumping mishap yet lighter and easier to set up and move about. As part of my mission, it was clear that steeplechase racing here in the United States and some other parts of the world had lost the art of jumping. Fences were getting smaller and the pace of the race faster. This lead me to think - could an artificial fence with a bigger, fuller presentation allow jumping to get back in the game thereby slowing the pace of the race, in hopes for making safer racing? Many experts in the game believe this is the case and therefore, my friend and retired champion American jump jockey Jeff Teter and yours truly, along with my fence consultant and fence builder, Bill Watt of Watt Fences, Ltd. of North Yorkshire, England went down the path of investigating a new fence design along with a number of other interested NSA horsemen. 

SafTfence at Thornton Hill Races

Three years in the making and over one hundred thousands dollars invested in research, design and mistakes, March of 2010, we introduced the patent pending SafTfence™ plastic fence frame and birch branch system in a state-of-the-art, yet fully portable design. Since the system was designed from the ground up, the SafTfence "hedge" can be made as stiff or soft and tall or small as need be and is generally more forgiving to error of judgement by horse or rider. The fence’s presentation is as impressive to look at as it is to jump. Riders tell me the horse really looks at the fence and is less likely to take liberties with it.

The new fence was first presented to horsemen late March 2010 down in Camden to much fanfare and general acceptance by NSA horsemen. The fall of 2010, the SafTfence steeplechase hurdle was raced over at two non-sanctioned race meets in Virginia. We learned a lot from those two races along with the performance of the plastics from weather changes particularly from the 2010 hot fall to the sudden arrival of early winter. Months of errors, mistakes and a number of successes, the SafTfence hurdle would be ready for its debut at the upcoming 2011 Queen's Cup Steeplechase where the jockeys and their athletic thoroughbred steeds will be racing over the new SafTfence steeplechase fence in four jump races.

It really goes to prove that necessity really is the mother of invention and once in a blue moon, one can make a difference in small and one hopes, powerful ways creating safety for horse and rider alike. Check out my next post to see how it performed.