‘We must promote our industry'

Kim Bailey on the importance of showcasing racing to all audiences

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OLD as I might be I really cannot recall a long dry spell of weather as we have had this autumn. It is seriously beginning to affect the jump season and for us National Hunt trainers with proper winter horses, reading that racecourses are still watering to maintain good ground in the last 10 days of November is perhaps a major warning of what the future holds in a world of climate change.

It might sound strange for those not in the sport as “good ground” is surely good ground, but for those in the sport, we know that good ground when watered is “false”. When you use a sprinkler on your lawn you get false patches where more water has landed in some areas and that is the problem when watering a racecourse, no two places will be the same.