IT HAS taken one year since construction began and cost £7.6 million but Cork Racecourse, formerly known as Mallow, will open its doors for the first time at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

It has been a controversial development in many ways but after yesterday's press launch what cannot be denied is that the new facility is impressive looking.

The extensive new stands rise spectacularly on the side of the main Mallow Killarney road and everything is set for the estimated 10,000 strong crowd that will turn up on Saturday.

What everyone acknowledges, however, is that the most important statistic on the day and in the future will be the numbers who make the 20 minute drive from the Cork city catchment area. After this substantial investment, the Horseracing Authority's much lauded "Leopardstown of the South" will stand or fall on the number of urban racegoers it attracts.

The racecourse's ebullient executive director Michael Lane is under no illusions about that and said yesterday: "We must target Cork city. There are 140,000 people there and we must get as many of them out here as we can. If we don't this will all be a failure, and I'm not countenancing failure."

Certainly those who remember the decrepit and dishevelled Mallow are in for surprise with the new facility. As well as the stands, there are new entrances, a sunken paddock, saddling boxes, and 120 new stables for racecourse runners installed at a cost of £500,000.

The track itself has been extensively revamped. Sixty five per cent of the racecourse had its topsoil lifted, then raised two feet with infield subsoil before being resodded. This was done partly to curtail the threat of flooding which the new racecourse's critics have focused on.

"This track will always be subject to flooding from the Blackwater River. The enclosure is over flood level but the track isn't. However, what we have done is install relief drainage which will take the water away much quicker than was the case. If it floods now we would expect to be in a position to race two days afterwards," Lane explained.

"Flooding will never be the problem here that it was," added clerk of the course John Harvey before exhibiting the new steeplechase fences. They are formidable obstacles but have been jumped by horses from Eugene O'Sullivan's local yard and O'Sullivan has expressed his satisfaction with them.

The hurdle and round flat race tracks will be on the inside of the course while work is still going on on the outside sprint track to turn it into a straight six furlongs.

Cork expects to host a minimum of seven meetings this year, with 14 the target for next year and increasing thereafter. Its second meeting will be on June 7th and Tipperary have given the new course its June 15th date.

A significant move is that apart from long term badge holders, a flat rate of £8 will get racegoers into every part of the track except for the corporate boxes. There will be no reserved enclosure.

Eight races will be run on Saturday following the official opening by the Minister for Agriculture, Ivan Yates. Yesterday, punters were urged to come early to avoid congestion.

Much of its significance is that the Irish Horseracing Authority has pinned much of its credibility on the new course working, particularly the IHA chairman, Denis Brosnan.

Brosnan has said: "Not to have a racecourse in county Cork is almost as bad as not having Leopardstown."