Bar the Bull
At the Start
Every racecourse in Britain will be required to assess the state of its ground with a GoingStick from January 1 2009, following a 12-month trial of the device which concluded at the end of March. Tracks will need to measure and report a GoingStick reading both on the morning before final declarations are made and on the day of racing, in an attempt to improve the volume and accuracy of data available to both punters and professionals.
At present, although GoingStick readings are often published in trade papers, the official description of the going at a course remains in the hands of the clerk of the course. This has led to persistent anomalies between readings and official descriptions.
The GoingStick, developed by the company TurfTrax, was approved for use on British tracks in 2003, and gives readings that range from about 5 (extremely heavy going) to about 12 (firm ground). Outside of the recent 12-month trial, however, its use, though widespread, has not been a requirement for any track.
GoingStick data from British racetracks over the last year can be accessed at the company's website, and there are few which do not offer at least one apparent anomaly in that period. At Ayr on August 11, for instance, the official going was good to soft and the GoingStick reading was 7.7. Eighteen days later, the going was good to firm, good in places, and the GoingStick reading was also 7.7.
The BHA emphasised yesterday that the requirement for use of the GoingStick will not be a cure-all for punters' concerns over the accuracy of going reports, while it will also take time for punters and professionals alike to learn to interpret the data.
"The trial has given us about 2,700 readings, around 1,500 of those from Flat tracks and 1,200 from National Hunt," Fraser Garrity, the BHA's Head of Racecourse, said yesterday. "We now have good correlations in terms of averages across these reports, with 5.5 being the mean for heavy, for example, 6.4 for soft, 7 for good to soft, 8.1 for good, 9.1 for good to firm and 11 for firm.
"But what we are finding are definite issues of course specificity, depending on their soil type and structure. This means that a reading from course A that has a clay-based soil and the same reading from course B that is also clay-based means that they will ride very much the same. But if course B is clay with sand, it is likely to be slightly different."
Courses will be encouraged to take readings as close as possible to the time of the first race, which should help punters to assess, among other things, how much water has been put onto a track subsequent to the final declarations. GoingStick readings are also expected to be included in official form books, which will make it easier for punters to form their own opinions as to what a particular reading at a particular track might mean.
"I'm basically a fan of the GoingStick," Andrew Cooper, the clerk of the course at Epsom and Sandown, said yesterday, "and it should mean that there is more information available for everybody to use.
"But it would be naive to think that, with the variations we have in soil structures and the nature of courses in this country, you will ever get what would be classed as good ground giving uniformly identical GoingStick readings.
"It is a management tool, rather than an absolute arbiter of what you end up calling the ground."
Garrity suggested yesterday that the move to make GoingStick readings a compulsory part of the going description is only a start.
"In time, it could be possible to add GPS, or to calibrate the Stick in relation to soil type so that they do all tie in together," he said. "That's all for later generations, but what we are doing now is bringing things into the 21st century and away from the wooden stick, because there is no audit trail on a wooden stick."
At present, although GoingStick readings are often published in trade papers, the official description of the going at a course remains in the hands of the clerk of the course. This has led to persistent anomalies between readings and official descriptions.
The GoingStick, developed by the company TurfTrax, was approved for use on British tracks in 2003, and gives readings that range from about 5 (extremely heavy going) to about 12 (firm ground). Outside of the recent 12-month trial, however, its use, though widespread, has not been a requirement for any track.
GoingStick data from British racetracks over the last year can be accessed at the company's website, and there are few which do not offer at least one apparent anomaly in that period. At Ayr on August 11, for instance, the official going was good to soft and the GoingStick reading was 7.7. Eighteen days later, the going was good to firm, good in places, and the GoingStick reading was also 7.7.
The BHA emphasised yesterday that the requirement for use of the GoingStick will not be a cure-all for punters' concerns over the accuracy of going reports, while it will also take time for punters and professionals alike to learn to interpret the data.
"The trial has given us about 2,700 readings, around 1,500 of those from Flat tracks and 1,200 from National Hunt," Fraser Garrity, the BHA's Head of Racecourse, said yesterday. "We now have good correlations in terms of averages across these reports, with 5.5 being the mean for heavy, for example, 6.4 for soft, 7 for good to soft, 8.1 for good, 9.1 for good to firm and 11 for firm.
"But what we are finding are definite issues of course specificity, depending on their soil type and structure. This means that a reading from course A that has a clay-based soil and the same reading from course B that is also clay-based means that they will ride very much the same. But if course B is clay with sand, it is likely to be slightly different."
Courses will be encouraged to take readings as close as possible to the time of the first race, which should help punters to assess, among other things, how much water has been put onto a track subsequent to the final declarations. GoingStick readings are also expected to be included in official form books, which will make it easier for punters to form their own opinions as to what a particular reading at a particular track might mean.
"I'm basically a fan of the GoingStick," Andrew Cooper, the clerk of the course at Epsom and Sandown, said yesterday, "and it should mean that there is more information available for everybody to use.
"But it would be naive to think that, with the variations we have in soil structures and the nature of courses in this country, you will ever get what would be classed as good ground giving uniformly identical GoingStick readings.
"It is a management tool, rather than an absolute arbiter of what you end up calling the ground."
Garrity suggested yesterday that the move to make GoingStick readings a compulsory part of the going description is only a start.
"In time, it could be possible to add GPS, or to calibrate the Stick in relation to soil type so that they do all tie in together," he said. "That's all for later generations, but what we are doing now is bringing things into the 21st century and away from the wooden stick, because there is no audit trail on a wooden stick."