Races will begin next weekend at Limerick's Greenmount Park, the State's first new racecourse in 50 years.
The open race day, on Sunday, October 14th, will see the revival in Limerick of the Munster National steeplechase, which has been held 131 times. "We are opening with a Munster National, 2001, and we closed with a Munster National in 1998," said Mr Angus Houston, the course general manager.
Among the entries for the three-mile race will be the local Michael Hourigan-trained Doran's Pride who practised on the all-weather gallop before running at Royal Ascot this year. One of the bars has been named after the famous horse.
Other horses expected to run are David's Lad, this year's Grand National Winner, and last year's Munster National Winner in Cork, River Cora.
The £12 million course is five miles outside Limerick and takes in views of the city against a backdrop of the east Clare hills.
It is a uniquely designed grade one racecourse, the only one between Mallow and Galway. Out of the 200-acre site, 40 acres of grassland were reseeded with rye grass and other durable grass species, after stones and boulders were removed from thousands of tonnes of earth. A man-made lake, which can hold 6 million cubic inches of water, was built in the middle of the course for drainage. "The track drains naturally into it," Mr Houston said.
The event has been long awaited. The city's old grade two course at Greenpark closed in March, 1999. It was thought the new course would have been ready 12 months ago. "In truth we were too optimistic. We thought it would be ready for racing a year ago. It takes time for nature to rebalance itself," he said.
It was completed last December with a Tote betting hall, which can hold 2,500 people, and a Ladbrokes betting shop. "The racing industry is top heavy with grade one tracks in Dublin for obvious reasons. The key thing about Limerick is it is the heart of National Hunt country. This is where it all began," he said.
Corporate boxes in the four-storey stand are available for £20,000 annually. "You will not find a better panoramic view of the racetrack in the whole of the country." The stand is also being used for exhibitions, conferences, and concerts.
"There is a clearly defined purpose to this place. It is a racecourse for 15 days of the year. For 350 days of the year, it is a multi-purpose event and exhibition centre."
Mr Houston formerly worked at Headingley Cricket Ground in England, and at racecourses in York, Ripon, Wetherby and Haydock Park.
The original Greenmount site was bought in 1994 for £1.27 million by Mr Hugh McMahon, to whose memory the stand is dedicated. The building project will also be funded from proceeds of the sale for housing of part of the old course.
Mr Houston has an advertisement of a race meeting from 1869, including the Limerick Steeplechase Plate, the nearest thing to the Munster National. On that occasion, a grand prize of £150 was offered.
The same racecard announced a Munster Hunt Plate, a 21/2-mile race with 49 sovereigns as prize money. He hopes to re-introduce that race for the Christmas meet.
"We have our 'L' plates on at the moment. You cannot hit the right formula when you start. We will be as good as Leopardstown. In a very short space of time, we will have international, top-quality racing.