Producing the perfect all-weather surface, known as the footing, is absolutely vital. Not only is the correct footing essential for protecting the horses' legs from injury in the high-impact sport of Jumping, the amount of "spring" in the sand is also important as it allows the dynamic energy used by the horse for jumping to rebound from the surface rather than being absorbed by it, he said.
The footing also has to be structured so that it provides the perfect surface for the very different demands of the Dressage horses, which also require a degree of "spring" in the surface. That "spring" is created by the use of a precise mix of fine quartz sand and imported geotextiles and fibres, said the manager.
With the possibility of heavy rainfall during the Olympic Equestrian Events in August, the specialized drainage system produced by the Club's footing experts provides a drainage rate of 100 mm per hour.
A hydraulic laser leveler is also used to create the perfect " plane" surface. To the naked eye, the sand footing looks as though it is horizontal, but there is actually a 0.5 percent gradient from a central line running from the middle of the south grandstand to the middle of the north stand.
"This is the optimal pitch for drainage. Any flatter and there would be the possibility of water pooling on the surface. Any steeper and the top layer of sand could be washed away in very heavy rain," said Wright.
Even the color of the sand is important and the Club conducted a special Shadow Test to ensure that the broadcast-quality floodlighting would not create shadowing that could affect the way the horses perform in the Jumping competitions.
Horses are particularly susceptible to shadows and have been known to jump shadows or even misjudge the height or width of a fence in Jumping competitions because of shadowing.
"Each and every one of the light bulbs in the floodlights is aimed at a different area on the arena to ensure uniformity of lighting", Wright said.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club has spent about 1.2 billion HK dollars (154 million U.S. dollars) building the Beijing Olympic equestrian venues, which will be handed over to the Equestrian Events (Hong Kong) of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad Company Limited, organizer of the Beijing Olympic Equestrian Event, at the end of the month.
