It's one of the toughest jobs in racing - and it's only getting tougher

I have long thought that a clerk of the course is among the most unenviable jobs in racing; a damned-if-you-do and damned-if-you-don't sort of role in which you'll never please everyone. But the evidence of recent weeks is that life is becoming even trickier for these hapless custodians of the turf. It's early February, a time of year when frost tends to give clerks a big enough headache, yet the word 'watering' is appearing in going reports with alarming regularity.

Sandown's meeting last Saturday was a prime example, with clerk of the course Andrew Cooper deciding to water following ten dry days in the build-up to the meeting, striking a remarkable contrast with the Esher track's first meeting of the jumps season on November 6, which was called off after three races due to waterlogging.

"It's been a difficult winter for all courses in terms of preparation," says Cooper, who also oversees the home of the Derby at Epsom. "It was a dry, long, hot summer and autumn. Using Sandown as an example, we then got washed away on our first day's racing. Then there was the pre-Christmas freeze-up, which had quite an impact on the grass. A lot of tracks said the same and that was a legacy of the summer and having to try to rush grass growth.