York Racecourse

Counting down the days until the start of the season.

York chief executive William Derby is counting down the days until the start of the season.

As the whole racecourse team looks forward to opening the doors again on May 13, William Derby, Chief Executive and Clerk of the Course provides an update on the trackworks and an exciting prospect for the Dante Festival.

"We are very pleased with where we are in terms of the trackworks project. The work on the racing surface was completed by October 22 last year which was ahead of where we the plan said we would be," he explains.

"Work is progressing away from the racing surface and the contractors are now making good the work they have done.

"There were four elements to the project, completing a comprehensive drainage system for the track, installing a new irrigation system, building a new service road and widening the south bend.

"All the work has been completed on schedule including the alterations to the south bend , but it is not due to be integrated into the track until 2010 so the contractors will be back in the autumn to grade in the levels."

"We have also installed a new grass canter-down on the stands side of the home straight so that will reduce the use of the racing surface as the horses go to the start.The track is the same width but we have realigned the safety fence to make some room so you’ll hardly notice the difference."

Following the weather challenges at last year's Ebor Festival, there is confidence that the new drainage system will certainly aid the management of the track.

"We can't say the drainage work would have avoided the situation, it wasn’t in place so we’ll never know, but it certainly would have helped and we head into the future in a far better position," he explained.
"The work was certainly the right thing to do and it has gone well."

York opens its season with the three-day Dante Festival beginning on Wednesday may 13 and the team are pleased to see that Crowded House, last year's Racing Post Trophy winner and a leading light for this season's Classics, could be a contender totesport Dante itself on May 14.

"We are obviously looking forward to May now and the start of the season," William Derby added.

"We are keen to get started and it is exciting to see that horses of the caliber of Crowded House are once again eyeing our feature races, we are looking forward to getting back in action."


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