DERBY ON A BANK HOLIDAY, STOP WATERING, CARLISLE & EPSOM 1926.

In today's Racing Post, Mr. Reid of Haslemere suggests the Epsom Derby should be staged on the second Bank Holiday in May, previously known as Whitsun or Whit Monday. Previously, I had suggested that bank holidays were not being utilised to best effect by British horse racing, days when ordinarily there are no other sporting events to overshadow our sport. I did not think, as Mr.Reid's does today, that the Derby would be the right fit to become the sporting event associated with this bank holiday, though I am persuaded to his cause. 

Of course, in reality, the B.H.A. could choose to stage the Epsom Derby on any of the three-days of the Whitsun weekend, though I would suggest the Monday would allow for more media coverage than the Sunday or Saturday. There is no reason if Epsom would prefer to keep to a two-day fixture that the Oaks could not be run on the Saturday, the Derby on the Monday, with perhaps a concert of some sort staged on the Hill on the Sunday, the Derby Music Festival, a mini- Glastonbury, if you like. I hope Mr. Reid's proposal gains traction amongst Racing Post columnists and the wider public as I think his proposal is just what the Epsom Derby needs right now to reinvigorate it, and wish I had thought of it myself.

Also in the letters column of the Racing Post today, Dr. Angel of Southampton makes a plea for clerks of courses to stop watering their racecourses. He reminds the reader that watering is a comparatively new strategy and that in the early 70's when the likes of Brigadier Gerard, Mill Reef and Nijinsky never ran on an artificially watered surface, that horses were not harmed by firm ground. I doubt if horses went unharmed by continual racing on a firm surface as flat horses are quite immature and liable to be lamed with sore shins, if not tendon injuries.

If we keep the debate to flat racing, Dr. Angel may have a point, though if Epsom were to turn off the irrigation taps this week and the ground was firm for Saturday, how many of those horses declared as possible runners will be scratched on the day due to trainers fear of their horses getting jarred-up on the firm ground? Over jumps Good-to-Soft has become the new Good, ground which a few years ago was considered perfectly fine as good ground did not jar tendons and such like. On the flat, Good is the new Good-to-Firm and as much as data evidence might suggest Dr. Angel makes a very good point, unwatered ground will doubtless equate to fewer runners and less competitive racing. Back in the day, powdered seaweed was spread on some racecourses to help keep the ground damp. Perhaps it was an experiment and how successful it was I cannot say. I just wonder if there is a product that would not harm grass that could be spread on a racecourse to boost moisture retention. It may not be th exact answer to the problem but it might prove to be of help.

Carlisle gained much praise from those unfamiliar with the racecourse, including Maureen Haggas, someone notable for being hard to please in equal measure to her deep knowledgable of the sport. I would propose that the Jockey Club make the two-day fixture that Haydock had to transfer between Wolverhampton and Carlisle a permanent move. Carlisle deserves a fixture highlight, while Haydock throughout the year has many.

100-years ago Epsom was a mess. Coronach, ridden by Joe Childs, had won the Derby at 11-2, E.G.S.A. had just bought the freehold to Epsom Downs for £58,000 and sold Six Mile Hill to Stanley Wootton for £35,000. Epsom Grand Stand Association, for the uninitiated.

Straight after the 2026 Derby, the demolition of the stands began. They had given themselves 10-months to get the work completed. The whole build was costed to come to £173,000. The steel was ordered for July and the new Club Stand would be finished by November, the end of. In May there was a General Strike, followed by dispute in the coal mining industry which was not resolved until November, throwing steel production in this country to next to mothing. The supplier had to purchase steel from wherever he could find it, with large wastage due to steel having to be cut to the specified lenghts on site. Most of the steel was coming from abroad, putting up the cost of transport. As a result, the build schedule went out of the window. To make a bad situation even worse, Epsom had assured contractors that the local railway station would be available for goods traffic. Southern Railway, though, thought differently.

The steel contractor had to increase his estimate of costs to £40,000, with the eventual bill by the time the stand was ready for use standing at £104,000, with the overall cost of the new build coming in at £232, 188. On the day before the Derby, carpenters, painters and plasterers were still hard at work. The 7-day, 24-hour work schedule had got the work completed on time, even if the skin of their teeth.

The one last thing on this subject, a marker for how society was back in 1927, and perhaps a mirror-image of today. Someone described as a committee penny-watcher, proposed that the sum of money being paid for the management of the new grandstand should be reduced and the salary of the manager reduced. His proposal was rejected. The following year, though, the same committee did submit to reducing the salary of the caretaker of the Warren Stables from £2. 15-shillings a week to £1. 15-shillings a week. If his children went hungry or cold through the following winter is not recorded. The children of the manager, one suspects, lived long, happy lives.