King of the turf: ARC Track Manager Jason Fulford

Jason (Jase) Fulford. Photo / Supplied

Responsible for the management of more than 14.5 acres of racing track, Auckland Racing Club (ARC) Track Manager Jason (Jase) Fulford plays a crucial role in the Club's operations.

Nobody could argue that, after having been in this role for more than 20 years, he's a valuable member of the ARC family.

We sat down with Jason to glean further insight into the man responsible for what is one of New Zealand's biggest sports fields, which will have thousands of eyes watching it at next week's Boxing Day Races at Ellerslie.

Becoming a racecourse track manager is a very specific line of work and probably not something many high school career advisors find their charges wishing to learn more about. However, it is arguably one of the most important roles at every racecourse around the globe, with the performance and safety of the racing surface a critical piece of any raceday.

Growing up, racing wasn't something Jase initially envisioned as being part of his future – building was the vocation that had caught his eye. Although that career path did not come to fruition, he still dabbles… a side project for his team at ARC involved them building their own deck off the side of their work shed!

Jase's introduction to track management was through his father, the late Harold Fulford, who helped him cut his teeth at Kapati Coast's Otaki Racecourse and these days Jase lives right on Ellerslie Racecourse with his wife and five children, who range in age from 10 – 25 years.

Even though he's a Kiwi through and through, Jase would love the opportunity to work at one of the leading racing clubs around the world in England, Dubai or South Africa. He says Flemington would be "pretty awesome too".

He follows a true lead-by-example philosophy, and if you're looking, you'll always find him "at the coal face with his boys".

What's it like to maintain the piece of ground responsible for people winning (or losing!) a million dollars?

"You're only as good as your last balls-up. For that reason, to me, even if it's a maiden day it still leads into the next, so every raceday is important."

What do you enjoy most about your job?

"I love being outdoors. There's hardly ever a dull moment around here and every raceday is different. There's never a boring event – if there is, then your passion is gone."

What does the lead up to a raceday look like?

"Our last mow of the track for a Saturday meeting is on a Wednesday and we mow at 100ml (h). I prefer the grass to have that little bit more length to blow in the wind. At the end of the day, it's a paddock; it's what horses love to run in.

"Dependent on the weather, we'll also keep irrigating the track right up until 36 – 40 hours before our first race, no matter what day of the week that is. The final irrigation is for safety. Safety is everything and takes priority over the way the track looks. At 6am the day before (even Christmas morning!), you'll find me here doing a penetrometer reading."

What does a normal raceday look like for you?

"There's five of us in the team, including myself. We're all here on every raceday; then we get in two to five more people to help for the bigger days or jumps days.

I'm here taking another penetrometer reading at 5.30am on the day of the race (if it's a twilight meeting it'll be a bit later, around 8.30am).

If we're busy on a race morning it means our work wasn't done the week before. So on a race morning we're covering all bases.

During the day, its things like moving the rail and starting gates and opening the rails for gates to be towed off. We are also always on the lookout for (horse) shoes that have come off, whips that the jockeys have dropped and anything that might be on the track that shouldn't be there.

We're also usually the first there for any emergencies or loose horses. We're fairly competitive regarding which one of us is going to catch the next loose horse. You're a sucker if the horse gets past you. They always dodge the first guy then pull up to the second, so I make Ray [member of Jase's team] go first. That's my trick… I haven't told him that...

I don't hang out in the grandstands or on that side of the course. I'm down there at the coal face with my boys."

We also asked Jase if he has any tips on keeping our grass at home looking just as good as the track, but it just shows how much we know…

"Interesting point... the turf is only cosmetic to me. It's never going to perform as well as it looks. I look after the soil profile up to 18 inches deep and that's what ensures the track will perform well. As long as the soil structure underneath is de-compacted and aerated (which comes down to our annual maintenance) that helps with the strength of the grass, and the stronger that is, the better it will perform under most weather conditions. If that work isn't done, it will fall apart really quickly."

Jase also laughs and says not to look at his lawn at home. "It's probably the worst looking lawn on the street."