The body representing Ireland’s jockeys has said it felt a consensus was reached on the need for a watering system at Thurles racecourse, but that any implementation wouldn’t be expected 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.
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.
