\u2018A huge blow for Irish racing\u2019 – Thurles racecourse closure met with shock and sadnessOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\nThe Molony family\u2019s statement said increasing industry demands and the cost of doing business were a \u201cmajor factor\u201d in their decision to close the track.<\/p>\n
That prompted the IHRB to state it supports continuous improvements but doesn\u2019t impose immediate or inflexible obligations. It stressed that the Molony family\u2019s decision was a private one.<\/p>\n
IHRB chief executive Darragh O\u2019Loughlin added that the racecourse manual is intended to support racecourses but \u201cnot to impose sudden demands or create barriers\u201d.<\/p>\n
The focus on watering at Thurles intensified after jockey Michael O\u2019Sullivan 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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
\u201cWith 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. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat 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,\u201d said IJA secretary Andrew Coonan on Monday. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s being said the IHRB made conditions so difficult and there was so much cost involved. I\u2019m 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. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs 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. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat, to me, didn\u2019t 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,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
Coonan said the hope among jockeys is that racing can continue in Thurles with a proper watering system in place. <\/p>\n
HRI chief executive Suzanne Eade is due to meet the Molony family this week to discuss their position. Reports of a near \u20ac3 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.<\/p>\n
In other news, Aidan O\u2019Brien\u2019s<\/a> recent impressive Killarney winner Benvenuto Cellini has been entered for Friday evening\u2019s Listed Coolmore Churchill Stakes at Tipperary. The Frankel colt earned 20-1 quotes for next year\u2019s Derby on the back of his maiden success. <\/p>\nO\u2019Brien\u2019s unbeaten Coventry Stakes winner Gstaad is likely to start a warm favourite for Saturday\u2019s Keeneland Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh, Europe\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n
It is National Hunt action at Roscommon on Tuesday, where Sunday\u2019s Galway festival winner Aurea Fortuna could bid for a quick follow-up. Victorious over flights off a mark of 101 in Ballybrit, Tony Martin\u2019s runner races off a mark of 96 in a handicap chase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The body representing Ireland\u2019s jockeys has said it felt a consensus was reached on the need for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[8029,25106,24488,3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-43889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-horse-racing","tag-hri","tag-irish-horseracing-regulatory-board","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}