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Cape Town - The Manager of the Western Cape's Racecourses and Training Centres, Dean Diedericks, will have Kenilworth Racecourse in tip-top shape for this year's J&B Met which will take place on Saturday.
The track is being watered everyday by Kenilworth Racecourse Manager Jerome Diederichs and his team to keep the penetrometer reading above 20.
Cape Town has a Mediterranean climate meaning the summers are dry.
However, the winters are very wet and Kenilworth itself had an unusually high 1750mm of rain last winter.
"That set us back but there weren't any issues," said Dean Diedericks.
He said that the preparation for J&B Met day is the same as for any normal race meeting but they do go to special lengths to make the course look good.
A foliar iron mix will be applied to bring the colour back to the grass.
The grass will be mowed down to a length of 80mm and the false rail will be set to 5 to 6m.
The weather forecast for the day has the temperature at 24 degrees with a South Easterly wind of 28km per hour, which Diedericks described as a medium strength wind.
The South will have a headwind affect on the horses.
Diedericks added that the penetrometer readings for racing this summer at Kenilworth had been 2mm to 4mm softer than last year, very safe going for the horses.
Dean's fancy for the race? He would like to see Pocket Power victorious because of the huge historical value if he wins for the third time.
Mike Greef is looking forward to his first J&B Met as the Racing Executive of Gold Circle in the Western Cape.
"The day will be a hub of excitement and we are looking forward to a crowd of about 40 000." Mike sees Catmandu as a possible winner based on a whole series of coincidences that happened before and at the final field announcement which saw Catmandu's name come up repeatedly.
The track is being watered everyday by Kenilworth Racecourse Manager Jerome Diederichs and his team to keep the penetrometer reading above 20.
Cape Town has a Mediterranean climate meaning the summers are dry.
However, the winters are very wet and Kenilworth itself had an unusually high 1750mm of rain last winter.
"That set us back but there weren't any issues," said Dean Diedericks.
He said that the preparation for J&B Met day is the same as for any normal race meeting but they do go to special lengths to make the course look good.
A foliar iron mix will be applied to bring the colour back to the grass.
The grass will be mowed down to a length of 80mm and the false rail will be set to 5 to 6m.
The weather forecast for the day has the temperature at 24 degrees with a South Easterly wind of 28km per hour, which Diedericks described as a medium strength wind.
The South will have a headwind affect on the horses.
Diedericks added that the penetrometer readings for racing this summer at Kenilworth had been 2mm to 4mm softer than last year, very safe going for the horses.
Dean's fancy for the race? He would like to see Pocket Power victorious because of the huge historical value if he wins for the third time.
Mike Greef is looking forward to his first J&B Met as the Racing Executive of Gold Circle in the Western Cape.
"The day will be a hub of excitement and we are looking forward to a crowd of about 40 000." Mike sees Catmandu as a possible winner based on a whole series of coincidences that happened before and at the final field announcement which saw Catmandu's name come up repeatedly.
