Dean Diedericks has for a long time overseen all of the racetracks and training estates in the Western Cape and to align themselves with the Cape structure Race Coast KZN have recently appointed Kurt Grunewald as the Estate and Tracks Manager in KZN.
Kurt is now based at Summerveld training estate and took over the office of the now retired Tony Rivalland at the beginning of this month.
He explained, “I was the Race Coast Senior Tracks Manager in KZN and Tony was the Summerveld Estate Manager, so I have retained my previous portfolio and have also taken over as Summerveld Estate Manager. Race Coast has created a new position which I am filling i.e. the Estate and Tracks Manager in KZN, who oversees all facilities.”
Hollywoodbets Ashburton Training Centre, where Hollywood Racing have a training facility for the horses of theirs who are trained by Vengi Masawi, does not fall under the Estates that Kurt oversees.
However, he does assist Wayne Giles, chiefly in an advisory role.
Regarding increased financial support for maintaining tracks since Hollywoodbets have taken over, Kurt said, “Money is available, not that it gets dished out willy-nilly. There have of course been a lot of upgrades at Hollywoodbets Greyville and there have been upgrades to the stables and grooms facilities at Summerveld and Hollywoodbets will soon be going in and doing some projects at Hollywoodbets Scottsville during the eight weeks of Spring treatment. The judge’s box and commentary box, which have been the same since that section was built and are in dire need of a more modern, more secure and a more user friendly environment, is one of the major projects that will happen and there will be other projects too.”
One of the projects in KZN that had money pumped into it after Hollywoodbets took over was the rejuvenation of the polytrack at Hollywoodbets Greyville.
Kurt said, “It was a short term fix, because they are still in the process of assessing the various synthetic surfaces around the world to make a decision on what they believe will be the best going forward. That rejuvenation we did has paid dividends though. For example, a recent meeting was switched from the turf to the poly halfway through the meeting.”
There have been drainage issues with the Hollywoodbets Greyville turf and Kurt explained, “Unfortunately, Hollywoodbets Greyville is not a man made surface, it is natural land and it is within a wetland. We are at the bottom of the Berea and you get all that ground water flowing off the Berea. With the golf course being a wetland the water retention is high and therefore the water table is higher than average. There are areas around the track that are a lot wetter than others because of the in situ materials. Obviously the soils further down are still what they have always been and will not change. We top dress annually during Spring treatment to add sand in order to improve the natural soils that may not be free draining. This is not a quick fix.
He continued, “We have improved the water management with the use of chemicals that help move water through the surface a lot quicker. Sometimes there is resistance in the soil itself if there has been mismanagement in terms of fertiliser applications over the years. Some of the soil molecules become hyrdrophobic, they don’t want water and keep it out, and that effects your drainage. It’s not an instant fix, but the chemicals help improve the drainage. A lot of the chemicals we apply are derived from the golfing industry. During major tournaments, if rainstorms are forecast, they apply these chemicals to the Greens. Or, if heavy dew is imminent, they apply these chemicals to help it dissipate moisture a lot quicker.
He added, “It is very scientific these days. We do annual soil samples which are analysed by an agronomist. The results are assessed against the previous year and the programs are tweaked accordingly. So, you chemically change and improve the soil conditions, which in turn improves the plant strength and it aids with drainage without necessarily having to put any extra drainage. However, if there is mismanagement of the fertiliser program on the tracks, it will take time to rectify the mistakes to get back to favourable conditions. This is because you are dealing with nature.”
Kurt gave an example of the intricacies. “A plant ‘sweats’ through its leaf and when that happens it has to draw more water via the root system from the soil. This is how the plant helps dry the soils, especially in dry, windy conditions. If it is moderate weather, the soil retains water ie holding capacity, until the plant makes use of it. That is why some people say, ‘But you have got all this drainage and it’s not drying’ . Drainage is designed to take away excess water, it does not take away all the water. This is a big misunderstanding about drainage. During WC2010 they had to water the pitches at halftime because the pitches were man made . The drainage was so good because of free draining soils, the grass would have died had they not been continuously watering it.”
During the winter the turf tracks just need to be trimmed for aesthetics, but the warm summer months with longer daylight hours are the major growing months and active cutting has to be done more often.
The Champions Season is ironically the toughest period to maintain the turf tracks due to the fact that it is our non-growing season
Kurt said, “When there is damage to the grass it starts to regrow, but nowhere near as rapidly as it does in Summer.”
He added, “If you did an aerial shot of the courses after the Champions Season you would be able to see exactly where the horses have run, because it does not regrow quickly. You would be able to see two distinct paths around the bend, at Hollywoodbets Greyville, created by the horses on the rail and the ones sitting just outside of them.”
A track manager is constantly second guessing the weatherman too. A watering program must be put in place to substitute for a lack of rainfall and the forecast has to be relied on to a certain extent to get it right. However, unexpected weather can happen.
Being track manager is a difficult and often thankless task, but Kurt has vast experience and has a fine team underneath him.
Hollywodbets Greyville track manager Kevin Searle, who comes from a golfing background and used to work at Royal Durban, brings a lot to the table and has valuable knowledge.
Thabani Mabaso is the Hollywodbets Scottsville Tracks and Grounds Controller and has received widespread praise for the outstanding job he performs.
