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Excavations have begun at Haydock as clerk of the course Dan Cooper begins to investigate the issue that saw racing at the track disrupted on Saturday.
Friendly Soul stepped into a hole around two and a half furlongs out in the opening Hedge of Oak Stakes, with investigations revealing a significant drainage issue. The sprint races were moved and run on the inside course, while the round-course races were abandoned.
An inspection at 1pm on Tuesday led to Friday and Saturday’s fixtures at the course being cancelled, with Cooper and his team deeming the inside track to be in an unsuitable position to sustain the two cards. The Saturday meeting has been moved to Carlisle.
While the bank holiday delayed some elements of the investigation at Haydock, professional agronomists are now assessing the area to get to the root cause of the issue.
The scene from the first inspection of the outside track at HaydockCredit: Racing TV
Cooper told Nick Luck Daily on Tuesday: “We’ve got some good, advanced GPS drawings of all the lateral drainage we have at Haydock Park racecourse since the rail realignment project. We’ve got those mapped out in the stewards’ room, and the drainage contractors have access to them.
“Excavations begun yesterday and we’re now on day two of that. The equipment had to be mobilised and brought in, the agronomists came and there was a BHA representative here. We wanted everyone to understand the hole that was left after racing, the size and any immediate findings from those experts.
“We’ve got civil engineers, two diggers and a large tractor taking the soil away. Essentially we dug a large rectangle into the surface of the track, we’ve excavated and the immediate area has drainage, so there is a drainage link, but that might not necessarily be the cause.
“We also found varying profiles of soil, and there’s drainage of varying degrees every two to five metres.”
Cooper said while GPS could help him locate some of the thousands of drains under the track, there were historic challenges at play given the area has been in use for various activities since the 19th century. The current racecourse opened in 1899.
The track’s next fixture is slated to take place on June 20, and when asked if he was confident the track would be suitable for racing by then, Cooper replied: “We would absolutely hope so.
“We’re working on this week-by-week because we don’t have an answer to the excavations yet, and we don’t know the extent of the repair, next week would be reinstating the surface and then we need to conduct the survey. I don’t think we can be foolish and look too far ahead.”
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