Jockeys' body says any new watering system for Thurles not anticipated until 2026
As reverberations continue from Friday's shock announcement by the
Molony family
that the country's sole privately owned racecourse was closing with immediate effect, focus has turned to standards and licensing requirements set out in a racecourse manual released in June by the
Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board
(IHRB) and
Horse Racing Ireland
(HRI).
The 68-page manual outlines standards for tracks, including in relation to stabling, weighing room and medical facilities.
It has been suggested that the Thurles closure – Ireland's first racecourse to close in 17 years – may have been due to a multimillion euro investment required to meet those standards. They reportedly include a minimum €300,000 for the installation of a watering system.
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Since Friday, champion trainer
Willie Mullins
has queried the need for Thurles to have such a system and
Henry de Bromhead
questioned if compliance with new IHRB and HRI guidelines is too expensive for smaller tracks.
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'A huge blow for Irish racing' - Thurles racecourse closure met with shock and sadness
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The Molony family's statement said increasing industry demands and the cost of doing business were a 'major factor' in their decision to close the track.
That prompted the IHRB to state it supports continuous improvements but doesn't impose immediate or inflexible obligations. It stressed that the Molony family's decision was a private one.
IHRB chief executive Darragh O'Loughlin added that the racecourse manual is intended to support racecourses but 'not to impose sudden demands or create barriers'.
The focus on watering at Thurles intensified after jockey Michael O'Sullivan sustained fatal injuries in a fall there in February. A subsequent IHRB review concluded the crash was due to the inherent risks of National Hunt but urged the prioritisation of a watering system.
The Irish Jockeys Association (IJA) say they met Thurles racecourse officials, trainer representatives and the IHRB in May with a view to try to provide ground conditions ideally no faster than the easy side of good going into the future.
'With the last two winters being quite dry, particularly last winter, it was obvious that Thurles had to try to ensure a regular consistent watering of the track.
'What we understood would be put in place, for the autumn period, racing would go ahead and we were perfectly happy that racing would go ahead for autumn, that they would continue to use the existing system that they had for watering with a view to a more long-term sustainable system which would ensure the future viability of the track in terms of producing the right type of ground. That was our last understanding of it. And when we left the meeting that is what we understood was going to happen,' said IJA secretary Andrew Coonan on Monday.
'It's being said the IHRB made conditions so difficult and there was so much cost involved. I'm not aware of any conditions that IHRB were putting on the track, other than as related to jockeys and that was solely the provisions of a watering facility, not immediately, but into 2026.
'As I understood it, there was always going to be racing in the autumn. There was always going to be watering under the existing system with a view to putting a sustainable consistent watering programme in place in line with best practice.
'That, to me, didn't seem an unreasonable position. And as I understood it, all the parties wanted to go ahead on that basis, and I understood that included Thurles, and the trainers and the jockeys,' he added.
Coonan said the hope among jockeys is that racing can continue in Thurles with a proper watering system in place.
HRI chief executive Suzanne Eade is due to meet the Molony family this week to discuss their position. Reports of a near €3 million cost to bring the overall Thurles facility up to required HRI standards have been suggested as a factor in the Thurles closure. Under HRI capital development fund rules, the Molony family would have to pay 60 per cent of any cost.
In other news,
Aidan O'Brien's
recent impressive Killarney winner Benvenuto Cellini has been entered for Friday evening's Listed Coolmore Churchill Stakes at Tipperary. The Frankel colt earned 20-1 quotes for next year's Derby on the back of his maiden success.
O'Brien's unbeaten Coventry Stakes winner Gstaad is likely to start a warm favourite for Saturday's Keeneland Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh, Europe's first Group One of the season for two-year-olds. The champion flat trainer has dominated the race like no other Group One prize with a remarkable 17 victories under his belt.
It is National Hunt action at Roscommon on Tuesday, where Sunday's Galway festival winner Aurea Fortuna could bid for a quick follow-up. Victorious over flights off a mark of 101 in Ballybrit, Tony Martin's runner races off a mark of 96 in a handicap chase.
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Irish Daily Mirror
10 minutes ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Tipp captain Ronan Maher on his mural screensaver and joining a wall of legends
It had been so long since they had reason to update it, the paintwork on the famous Thurles Sarsfields mural had become rather patchy. So, no sooner had Ronan Maher's portrait been hastily added alongside his eight clubmates as an All-Ireland winning captain last week than it was temporarily removed as part of a bigger redecorating process. 'They're redoing it all up now,' he says. 'The whole clubhouse has actually been painted, and they're repainting all the signs, so it'll be really cool to be walking in training now and see it.' The first All-Ireland winning captain from anywhere came from Thurles Sarsfields, with Jim Stapleton leading Tipperary to victory in the inaugural Championship of 1887. Yet, Stapleton only took over as captain for the final victory over Galway. The skipper up to then had been Denis Maher, who stepped down from the role due to a fallout over travelling expenses for the final. Denis was Ronan's great-grandfather. Tom Semple, after whom the stadium in Thurles is named, captained Tipp to the 1906 and '08 All-Irelands, while another Sars man, John Joe Callanan, became the first man from the county to lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup in 1930. Clubmate Jimmy Lanigan was the second in 1937, with John Maher, Ronan's granduncle, the third in 1945. Tony Wall maintained the club tradition in 1958 and it was further embellished by Jimmy Doyle (1962 and '65) and Michael Murphy (1964). So, Ronan Maher became the ninth different Thurles Sarsfields man to captain Tipperary to All-Ireland honours last month, and the first in 60 years. But, in an era where players drone on about the process and having eyes only for the next game, Maher had a wider gaze. Indeed, a doctored version of the wall was the screensaver on his phone. 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It's hard to believe that it's actually come to life now.' Aviva Insurance Ireland have announced their new partnership with ClubberTV. At the launch in Aviva Stadium was Tipperary and Thurles Sarsfields star Ronan Maher. See to catch this weekend's highlights of club games across Ireland. (Image: Inpho) And yet, there's a certain poignancy for him in that his brother, Pádraic, who captained Tipp before him and was forced into retirement in 2022, didn't make the wall before him. 'I always thought that Pádraic should have been going up on it in '17 and '18, and that hits home as well, and it's one thing you think about, and I suppose you think you're so lucky to be going up there. He was one of our best leaders ever to wear a Tipp jersey, and in '17 and '18, we thought we'd be getting him up on the wall, but unfortunately we didn't and things didn't go according to the plan, so that just makes it more special I suppose, and the achievement that it is. 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Irish Examiner
10 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
Now Tipperary skipper Ronan Maher will visualise 2026 target
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Irish Times
10 minutes ago
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Meabh Cahalane hoping three in-a-row chasing Cork can return silverware to Leeside
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