Irish Sports
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09 Jan 13
13:14
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Date Joined:
05 Jun 08
My thanks to soap for highlighting this article but as it was buried in the “naas tomorrow” thread I thought it might be worth a greater debate.
Leave Thurles alone!
By Pat Keane
Saturday, January 05, 2013
Last Saturday the Irish Field newspaper had a fair old go at Thurles Racecourse.
Written by what the Field calls "Our Racecourse Spy’’, he or she went to the track on Sunday, December 23 and then produced a review of what was on offer.
It didn’t make for pleasant reading as the facilities — or rather the lack of them — got a right hammering.
The heading on the article said: ‘Thurles needs a touch-up’ — to which my immediate response was — why?
Listen, there was nothing in this that was in any way new and the hard core of punters who flock to Thurles repeatedly throughout the winter, are well aware of the shortcomings of the place.
Yes, we’d like it if there was a trifle more luxury on offer, if the toilet facilities were better and the places to eat more comfortable. Mind you, the food there is rather impressive.
But if such improvements were to arrive on the back of ‘progress’ then here’s one who would like to scream it from the rooftops: leave Thurles alone.
There is a culture within certain sections of racing right now — and has been for a long time — that seem to believe the way forward for the game is improved facilities and then, once you get the punters inside, doing something which enhances the race-day experience.
Seriously, who hasn’t had more than his fill of the idiots who think that every waking moment of this so-called race-day experience has to be filled with some sort of razzmatazz or other?
Take Leopardstown at Christmas, for instance. The racing was terrific, but the unnecessary noise that was constantly foisted on an unsuspecting public was savage.
All day, every day, at least for the three I was there, we were subjected to a constant barrage of endless waffle, often booming throughout the enclosures. Happiest moment was finally getting out of there on the Friday night.
Do the people who make these decisions — that the silences have to be filled — ever go racing anywhere else?
Then you have those student days that have become popular at certain racecourses. The idea here seems to be to catch them when they’re young and back they’ll come. It’s complete bullshit, of course. Once they’ve qualified most of them will be forced onto a plane and out of the country.
The student days basically amount to an orgy of drink, peeing — both male and female — in public and weaving your car between numerous drunks as you leave the particular track.
Anyway, facilities are the most over-rated commodity in Irish racing. Those of us who were weaned on point-to-points couldn’t give a toss about them, as long as they are adequate.
Last Thursday many hundreds again flocked back to Thurles. Given what is going on at a number of racecourses in this country, it was an absolute pleasure to be there.
This was all about racing, all about what was going on out on the track, yet another opportunity to see mighty men doing what they do best.
It was delightfully peaceful and utterly invigorating. No effort was made to enhance the experience and the experience was all the better for it.
The atmosphere was natural, created by proper racing men and women. Punters and bookmakers alike could carry out their business, free from any sort of assault on their senses.
Oh, and what would a major facelift do for Thurles? Would it add a hundred customers at the gate?
Such ‘progress’ would certainly come at a price. Imagine some marketing or public relations person being afforded the power to change things.
Oh God, it doesn’t bear thinking about. Right now Thurles, a track that has no pretensions to grandeur, is like an oasis in the desert. I’ll say it one more time: leave Thurles alone.
And referring back to the Irish Field article, the timing of it surely left plenty to be desired, considering that the Molony family, who own the racecourse, have certainly endured a harrowing couple of months.
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This article can be linked to Roddy Ryan’s recent Moyglare speech where he called for a modern, state-of-the-art “Lansdowne Road” (sic)-type Curragh racecourse facility that will enhance the image of racing in Ireland, presumably to a mainly international audience. Keane argues that facilities don’t matter much to the attendance but this is just plain wrong when we are looking at a bigger picture. We do need decent facilities to showcase our best horses, jockeys and trainers and attract better audiences but, thanks to the recession, we escaped the Celtic Tiger orgasmatron that was to be the new Curragh when the funds ran out. Ryan speaks of discussions with “donors” to help fund the development (the big players will be under pressure to participate given the Aga khan’s original generosity in providing the funds to buy the adjacent hotel) and it will now be all about value-for-money and a scaled-back version of the original. The taxpayer will be expected to fund part of this and that will be a big sell at present to justify the subsidisation of private and corporate boxes. The bowler-hatted brigade has the best seats in the house at the Curragh at present and, no doubt, catering generously for their expectations will be a significant part of the plan. God forbid they had to mingle with the great unwashed!
I don’t like the tone of the Keane article in parts but his swipe at the author over the timing of the piece is unfair as the article in no way was a personal attack on the family running the show. The review of racecourses has been an ongoing theme for the paper and, unusually, you will find objective criticism therein. There are much bigger issues at stake regarding Thurles and its “mighty men” as I hope to demonstrate.
Thurles is a throwback to an era when our fathers went racing but trying to justify the desperate facilities on offer because of "good racing" or other questionable benefits doesn’t make any sense. The current attendance is “grey” and with no effort made to attract a wider audience its likely that attendances will continue to diminish and this will have implications for the need for racecourses to provide nothing other than “betting opportunities” and this can be as easily provided by a small number of tracks and the likes of a Thurles will become superfluous to needs if you provide a few well-drained tracks.
My main gripe with the article is the implication that Thurles is fine, doesn’t need to be tinkered with and it will provide as it has provided for decades. I would contend that the management make no effort because they are not obliged to. The finances are very healthy thank-you-very-much and, frankly, it matters little if the punters don’t turn up because HRI give us very decent prizemoney and SIS are the benefactor that never stops giving (even Chuck Feeney got sick of this attitude).
The Thurles website offers the opportunity for corporate hospitality and one expects that all racecourses are doing their best to attract new sponsorship participants and involve the local community as some of our more forward-thinking tracks have successfully demonstrated. The reality is that it’s been a while since corporate guests were swanning around Thurles in their Sunday best.
Thurles has raced seven times in the current season and offered €495,000 in total prizemoney or just over €10,000 per race. This looks fairly decent to me and suggests that HRI largesse is still pretty generous. Indecon identified sponsorship as a key plank in the future financing of Irish racing but the figures from Thurles suggest this is virtually a zero priority. Apart from sponsorships like EBF and Martinstown that are gifted to tracks it seems to me that Thurles seems to have their “own” sponsors for just 2 of the 49 races run so far this season; a local hotel and a brewery. Now, interestingly, these sponsors were associated with two of their three graded races (worth €28,500 and €27,500) yet an earlier unsponsored race graded race run in October was also worth €27,500. This raises many questions as to the rules for the sponsorship of all races but in particular graded events and one wonders if it is possible to sponsor a race without enhancing the overall purse or if a racecourse can attract a “sponsor” and snaffle all the funds for its own means.
Thurles racecourse is run as a private enterprise and now enjoys the very generous broadcasting pay-offs from SIS and other racing media. This contribution is probably in excess of €50,000 per meeting and yet nothing is diverted to prizemoney. If, let’s say, we didn’t have a government handing over taxpayers money to fund the industry racecourses would be forced (literally) to survive on t.v, rights, attendances and sponsorship and a substantial proportion of their income would be diverted to prizemoney to attract the best horses and, presumably, the best attendances. Bells and whistle events would have their own importance in the overall scheme of things and running racing would become a challenge for only the best and brightest entrepreneurs. As things stand a racecourse can let its facilities fall into decline, make no effort to attract patrons and sponsors and still, potentially, make very decent, private profits. This is the scandal that Thurles represents today.
Leave Thurles alone!
By Pat Keane
Saturday, January 05, 2013
Last Saturday the Irish Field newspaper had a fair old go at Thurles Racecourse.
Written by what the Field calls "Our Racecourse Spy’’, he or she went to the track on Sunday, December 23 and then produced a review of what was on offer.
It didn’t make for pleasant reading as the facilities — or rather the lack of them — got a right hammering.
The heading on the article said: ‘Thurles needs a touch-up’ — to which my immediate response was — why?
Listen, there was nothing in this that was in any way new and the hard core of punters who flock to Thurles repeatedly throughout the winter, are well aware of the shortcomings of the place.
Yes, we’d like it if there was a trifle more luxury on offer, if the toilet facilities were better and the places to eat more comfortable. Mind you, the food there is rather impressive.
But if such improvements were to arrive on the back of ‘progress’ then here’s one who would like to scream it from the rooftops: leave Thurles alone.
There is a culture within certain sections of racing right now — and has been for a long time — that seem to believe the way forward for the game is improved facilities and then, once you get the punters inside, doing something which enhances the race-day experience.
Seriously, who hasn’t had more than his fill of the idiots who think that every waking moment of this so-called race-day experience has to be filled with some sort of razzmatazz or other?
Take Leopardstown at Christmas, for instance. The racing was terrific, but the unnecessary noise that was constantly foisted on an unsuspecting public was savage.
All day, every day, at least for the three I was there, we were subjected to a constant barrage of endless waffle, often booming throughout the enclosures. Happiest moment was finally getting out of there on the Friday night.
Do the people who make these decisions — that the silences have to be filled — ever go racing anywhere else?
Then you have those student days that have become popular at certain racecourses. The idea here seems to be to catch them when they’re young and back they’ll come. It’s complete bullshit, of course. Once they’ve qualified most of them will be forced onto a plane and out of the country.
The student days basically amount to an orgy of drink, peeing — both male and female — in public and weaving your car between numerous drunks as you leave the particular track.
Anyway, facilities are the most over-rated commodity in Irish racing. Those of us who were weaned on point-to-points couldn’t give a toss about them, as long as they are adequate.
Last Thursday many hundreds again flocked back to Thurles. Given what is going on at a number of racecourses in this country, it was an absolute pleasure to be there.
This was all about racing, all about what was going on out on the track, yet another opportunity to see mighty men doing what they do best.
It was delightfully peaceful and utterly invigorating. No effort was made to enhance the experience and the experience was all the better for it.
The atmosphere was natural, created by proper racing men and women. Punters and bookmakers alike could carry out their business, free from any sort of assault on their senses.
Oh, and what would a major facelift do for Thurles? Would it add a hundred customers at the gate?
Such ‘progress’ would certainly come at a price. Imagine some marketing or public relations person being afforded the power to change things.
Oh God, it doesn’t bear thinking about. Right now Thurles, a track that has no pretensions to grandeur, is like an oasis in the desert. I’ll say it one more time: leave Thurles alone.
And referring back to the Irish Field article, the timing of it surely left plenty to be desired, considering that the Molony family, who own the racecourse, have certainly endured a harrowing couple of months.
*******************************************************************************************
This article can be linked to Roddy Ryan’s recent Moyglare speech where he called for a modern, state-of-the-art “Lansdowne Road” (sic)-type Curragh racecourse facility that will enhance the image of racing in Ireland, presumably to a mainly international audience. Keane argues that facilities don’t matter much to the attendance but this is just plain wrong when we are looking at a bigger picture. We do need decent facilities to showcase our best horses, jockeys and trainers and attract better audiences but, thanks to the recession, we escaped the Celtic Tiger orgasmatron that was to be the new Curragh when the funds ran out. Ryan speaks of discussions with “donors” to help fund the development (the big players will be under pressure to participate given the Aga khan’s original generosity in providing the funds to buy the adjacent hotel) and it will now be all about value-for-money and a scaled-back version of the original. The taxpayer will be expected to fund part of this and that will be a big sell at present to justify the subsidisation of private and corporate boxes. The bowler-hatted brigade has the best seats in the house at the Curragh at present and, no doubt, catering generously for their expectations will be a significant part of the plan. God forbid they had to mingle with the great unwashed!
I don’t like the tone of the Keane article in parts but his swipe at the author over the timing of the piece is unfair as the article in no way was a personal attack on the family running the show. The review of racecourses has been an ongoing theme for the paper and, unusually, you will find objective criticism therein. There are much bigger issues at stake regarding Thurles and its “mighty men” as I hope to demonstrate.
Thurles is a throwback to an era when our fathers went racing but trying to justify the desperate facilities on offer because of "good racing" or other questionable benefits doesn’t make any sense. The current attendance is “grey” and with no effort made to attract a wider audience its likely that attendances will continue to diminish and this will have implications for the need for racecourses to provide nothing other than “betting opportunities” and this can be as easily provided by a small number of tracks and the likes of a Thurles will become superfluous to needs if you provide a few well-drained tracks.
My main gripe with the article is the implication that Thurles is fine, doesn’t need to be tinkered with and it will provide as it has provided for decades. I would contend that the management make no effort because they are not obliged to. The finances are very healthy thank-you-very-much and, frankly, it matters little if the punters don’t turn up because HRI give us very decent prizemoney and SIS are the benefactor that never stops giving (even Chuck Feeney got sick of this attitude).
The Thurles website offers the opportunity for corporate hospitality and one expects that all racecourses are doing their best to attract new sponsorship participants and involve the local community as some of our more forward-thinking tracks have successfully demonstrated. The reality is that it’s been a while since corporate guests were swanning around Thurles in their Sunday best.
Thurles has raced seven times in the current season and offered €495,000 in total prizemoney or just over €10,000 per race. This looks fairly decent to me and suggests that HRI largesse is still pretty generous. Indecon identified sponsorship as a key plank in the future financing of Irish racing but the figures from Thurles suggest this is virtually a zero priority. Apart from sponsorships like EBF and Martinstown that are gifted to tracks it seems to me that Thurles seems to have their “own” sponsors for just 2 of the 49 races run so far this season; a local hotel and a brewery. Now, interestingly, these sponsors were associated with two of their three graded races (worth €28,500 and €27,500) yet an earlier unsponsored race graded race run in October was also worth €27,500. This raises many questions as to the rules for the sponsorship of all races but in particular graded events and one wonders if it is possible to sponsor a race without enhancing the overall purse or if a racecourse can attract a “sponsor” and snaffle all the funds for its own means.
Thurles racecourse is run as a private enterprise and now enjoys the very generous broadcasting pay-offs from SIS and other racing media. This contribution is probably in excess of €50,000 per meeting and yet nothing is diverted to prizemoney. If, let’s say, we didn’t have a government handing over taxpayers money to fund the industry racecourses would be forced (literally) to survive on t.v, rights, attendances and sponsorship and a substantial proportion of their income would be diverted to prizemoney to attract the best horses and, presumably, the best attendances. Bells and whistle events would have their own importance in the overall scheme of things and running racing would become a challenge for only the best and brightest entrepreneurs. As things stand a racecourse can let its facilities fall into decline, make no effort to attract patrons and sponsors and still, potentially, make very decent, private profits. This is the scandal that Thurles represents today.
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I have the utmost respect for Royal Academy but whilst there are some valid points others are very harsh on Thurles.
Calling SIS a benefactor is just wrong this is a commercial deal that suits SIS and the bookmakers who avail of that service. Saying that the Thurles attendance is Grey is true but it has always been so,Thurles races mainly midweek and the age profile of these type of meetings has always been Grey for the obvious reasons. Thurles has been run brilliantly by the Molonys,they resisted all the pressure put on them by the HRI to borrow money,remember that organisation wanted in almost Anglo Irish type style them to borrow a million to match a grant they were bestowing on them,when he declined they refused him a licence but they slunk back because they needed Thurles for the winter racing but took away the flat racing.If he had agreed to their daft proposals he would be saddled with a crippling debt. The town of Thurles has come all the way out to the racecourse and the Molonys received monster bids from developers during the boom and because they are racing enthusiasts they turned them down. |
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To be fair is it a crime to move into the 1980's?
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take your points wldman, all very valid and there was nothing personal intended against the molonys.
main point of my thread is to highlight how different interests within the industry look after their own vested interest and because HRI are dishing out "free" money there is little or no accountability required from the tracks. lots of faults in the system. i would love an answer on the sponsorship issue. in a well-run system everyone would be vying/challenging for scarce resources and only the best would survive. |
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It is a fair point stating that monies are handed over in prize money which help generate profits for private businesses although I think Thurles make more money from their schooling days than their best racing ones.
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It's 2012 and people expect decent facilities. Thurles need to take a leaf out of Ballinrobe. A tremendous small track venue with excellent facilities. The new upgrades haven't taken away the atmosphere.
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its a track i love going to for the racing , the facilities leave lots to be desired if i'm honest ...i refuse to eat in what i can only describe as a third world canteen and how it passes the health authority is beyond me....if they upgraded the eating facility it would be a smashing track...
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It's an old building alright but the food is the best in Ireland,next time you are down there go into the canteen earlier and you will find it is full of bookies and their staff,them lads know value and generally stop in their own favourite spots on the way to the races.
It's only fair to say I am biased as its my local track but the viewing is great and like Pat Keane I appreciate the fact we are not being bombarded with some dreadful pop station. |
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i agree fully wildmanfromborneo....my only gripe is the canteen , the food is to old fashioned for my tastes , btw we had beacon and cabbage for dinner the other day , so no problem on that score , its the dampness and old utensils that get me....but that unique quietness is indeed loved by myself ..tell you what next time i'm down that way i'll buy you dinner....
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suits the kind of racegoers that frequent it workrider
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I take your point it is real country men's food which kind of makes Royal Academy's point about the Grey attendance.
Thurles race throughout the winter when other tracks either refuse to or can't and have no big days but it provides a valuable service to racing. |
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It's obvious Thurles are saying we're in the middle of no where so nobody will expect anything in terms of facilities. Btw what kind of ground is it? Takes a serious amount of rain.
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Not much debate ever ventilated in public as to how all privately-owned tracks can offer HRI prize money and be expected to give nothing back.
Thurles is probably coining it (some may say they are entitled to do so) but the disconnect between the wellbeing of the industry as a whole (sharing the cake equitably) and allowing racetracks to operate so blatantly for their own benefit is the issue. Who owns these racecourses? are there owners well-connected? how accountable are they? what standards or regulations are imposed by HRI? Are there strong guidelines on sponsorship? Needless to say, with AIR sitting on the board of HRI that creates its own problems if and when issues are discussed. |
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A terrific card there tomorrow that wouldn,t be out of place at the Leopardstown Christmas fixture,hope it can beat the forecast temperatures.
Agree that it seems to almost alone is keeping the flag flying for midweek racing at the moment in Ireland. |
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sadly willie seems to be fecking up n.h. lots of odds on shots from there tomorrow ....
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Maybe so, still the kinloch brae,novice hurdle,tarla and the hunters chase are claasy races.
Forecast is fine,had it on a location in the Uk which looked bleak. |
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agree pa ,but its a long way down for a couple of odds on shots ..whats to say they wont punt the first one into odds on as well..but as you rightly say , a very good card ..i'll wait till late tonight before deciding if i'll go....
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looks like willie has 4 odds on chances there tomorrow ffs
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RoyalAcademy do you really believe the owners of thurles are coining it, would always have thought it a bit of a struggle to keep the show going, very heavily reliant on the generous SIS money, accepting the few bob generated on schooling days? Think they're hoping the casino gets the go ahead up the road which would, sadly, be the end of thurles as we know it.
Could be wrong but isnt it the only privately run racecourse in the country, that in itself tells a story I'd say. Hope they get a crowd tomorrow anyway cos its as good a card as they've had there in a while |
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Anyone in Thurles today,can ye let me know later if ye could get phone/internet coverage and which network ye were using??
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BOG, Double done:
2.10 - Roi Du Mee 9/4 1.40 - Mikhauel Dag 1/2 |
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cnoc seoda picked up a nasty leg injury the last day at cork and i gather there are doubts about her today. assuming she is out to do her best(i do harbour reservations about the pilot), then charlies vic is a stunning price at 13/8 to win the match bet with cnoc seoda with the AN POST sponsored tallaght firm. also a place lay of cnoc seoda may fill the pocket.
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I see currently Charlies Vic is 13.5 to back and Cnoc Seoda is 32 to back.Irrespective of the result of this match bet if you keep backing horses in a match bet at 13/8 with those type of differences in Betfair prices you WILL make money.
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gentlemanjohn, i missed the Thurles piece in yesterday's Post and have been unable to secure a copy-maybe someone might have it? I just find the whole basis of funding of the game at present a bit obscene in the light of where we find ourselves.
at the risk of repeating myself the taxpayer is funding this game today like never before (third party contributions from whatever source are hugely down or not asked for!) and can I be alone in gagging at yesterday's total prize money of €159,000 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY NINE THOUSAND SPONDOOLICKS OF TAXPAYERS' MONEY offered at a track that doesn't want customers? Thurles makes plenty of dosh on gallopers (a distance from the "few bob" generated as you suggest-wmfb alerted me to this) and, far from hoping for the casino to arrive, they've never made so much money and would love the present situation to continue. The track has no alternative use other than as farm land I expect and I have tried and failed to discover the trading name or registered company name that runs the show. I understand why the track is popular among the die-hards but, unfortunately, the Minister allowed sectional interests to prevail in Indecon and the begging bowl culture continues. And finally, and I make no apologies for banging on about this. HRI Published Indecon, the 2011 Fact Sheet and the Strategic Marketing Review reports within days of their publication. The same priority was not given to the 2011 annual report and as people are paid handsomely to ensure these things are attended to it really makes you wonder why it is still unavailable 13 months after the end of their financial year. |
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Interesting how the Indecon Report dealt with the part played by the media rights payment in the whole industry funding issue.
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Here is a link royal academy for the racing post articles, its currently up to the 16th, yesterdays paper should be up soon, just click on January and then whatever date you fancy, copying and pasting is a no no as the articles are usually cluttered with underlined links to other topics which makes the copy and paste virtually unreadable, but a good link to have all the same.
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+Racing+Post+(London%2c+England)-p21570 |
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Seems the free library have copped on and stopped underlining every physical being and place name so copy and paste is now possible see below;
Byline: Jonathan Mullin BY THE time you pick up this newspaper this morning plenty will have happened at Thurles racecourse. Pierce Molony, who serves as the racecourse's proprietor, manager and next door neighbour, will have had his sleep broken by a 5am alarm. A water metre and a thermometer will tell him what has happened while he has slept. If they as much as whisper that rain has fallen or frost visited, he will grab the flashlight, place it on the passenger seat of his jeep, and drive to the three places on the course that, from 50 years of pacing, he knows can prove troublesome. He'll take it in his stride because not so long ago he wouldn't dare take these things for granted. Memories of a day, just last October, after months of battling cancer, will make him glad of the alarm. "One of the worst things that affected me after my illness was that I couldn't give a going report. I hadn't the strength to put the stick into the ground, simply couldn't do something that was second nature to me for most of my life," he says, still perplexed. "That was a shock." It's almost a year now since Pierce and his wife Riona went racing at Leopardstown, watched Hurricane Fly win the Irish Champion Hurdle and left the track to visit their good friend, trainer Oliver Brady, in hospital. Oliver's business partner Rita Shah was picking him up from hospital that evening and both she and Brady had heard from Molony's son-in-law, jockey John Cullen, of a persistent problem Pierce was having. He says: "I thought nothing of it to be honest but I used to bang my sternum with my fist now and again, almost subconsciously. Rita begged me not to let the day go by without getting it checked out. "The following Monday week, February 13, we were in the Hermitage clinic and after 30 or 40 minutes there I was told I had cancer of the oesophagus. I couldn't believe it because I was still the guts of 14 stone and eating like an old hunter. "Thank God I'm through it now thanks to the great care of not only my wife but Professor Reynolds and his team in James' Hospital in Dublin. I got my last tube out last Tuesday so I can stand up straight for the first time and throw my shoulders back without getting caught in my stomach. "I can't tell you how good that feels. I could be walking around with the cancer now but for Rita - I owe her a big thanks." But diagnosing the cancer was only the beginning of the most extraordinary challenge in Pierce's life, leaving him staring down the barrel of death and confronting the most difficult year of his 63. "I don't remember most of June and July to be honest," he says. "It was the girls and Riona who had to deal with that. I was asleep for most of it. It was the complications after the operation that caused most damage and he was just unlucky," says Riona. "Then I suppose you could say he was lucky to survive it. "He had his first operation on Friday, June 7 and got over that grand. Then on the Monday Professor Reynolds said he had to go in to see what was there and he came out and said he had a burst ulcer and the blood supply left to the stomach was so short that Pierce developed gangrene. So they had to do a life-saving operation and he came through that, sitting up in the bed like Lazarus on the Tuesday. "Then he developed chronic pneumonia in both lungs and that nearly finished him. He had to be put in an isolation room and was on dialysis because his kidneys were under serious pressure and his body was completely toxic. "After a week and a half in an induced coma he came round. He was in intensive care for two weeks and had to start over, learning how to walk again. "Then he had to have the other operation at the end of October to reconstruct the oesophagus. They had to take part of his bowel out and make a new oesophagus. What they can do is unbelievable and you couldn't say enough about the nurses." Pierce is the fourth generation of his family involved in running the races at Thurles. His grandfather took over from a local committee in the early part of the last century, and even when the track was managed by the locals, the chairman of that committee was a grandfather on Pierce's mother's side. "It was coming at us from both sides really," he says. The earliest recorded race at the track was in 1732 and even 100 years later a map of the track shows the horses would have galloped through the back garden that we can see through steaming mugs of hot tea and a kitchen window. The Thurles we know in its current form is a byword for winter jump racing. The idea of winter-only fare came from former clerk of the course Billy McLernon over ten years ago. Pierce says: "He knew our dislike of Flat racing and he suggested to us concentrating on the winter because it was as hard as the road here in June and July and there were no water facilities close by. "The end of October to the end of March is our season now and we're more comfortable with that. We're lucky in that we're able to race every second week or every week at times, and while you certainly don't get the crowds in November, thank God for the SIS money. Long ago we had to rely on schooling to keep us going but now without the TV money there would be a lock on the gate." Thurles concentrates on the basics. Its patrons care little for the luxuries and come for the horses. But that doesn't stop the course being the butt of criticism over its lack of new facilities. Does it get to Pierce? "Yes it does, all of the time!" he says. "We thought two years ago that we'd be closing down and the new place would be opening in Two Mile Borris. Richard Quirke sat in this kitchen and explained how all of it would work together, and we weren't going to be the one to let the whole thing down. "It was a big wrench for us at the time - the girls weren't in favour of it. But it didn't make sense for us to block it so we thought we were holding the racetrack together for the time being. "But Two Mile Borris looks like it's on a very long finger now. We'd love to have a couple of million to spend on the place but even if a bank was stupid enough to lend it to us we wouldn't be able to pay it back from the money that's generated. "There are things we have to do that we'll be doing this summer, like the toilets and the roof of the stand - they're priorities. The stableyard doors should all be replaced by the end of this racing season. We're conscious that the SIS money might not be there forever so we'll make hay while the sun shines and get as much done in the next couple of summers as we can. "Even if we had millions tomorrow we wouldn't change the structure of the place," says Riona. "You don't need huge stands in Thurles. Some of the country's biggest tracks have their stands full on the big days but they're pretty bleak on quieter days. I wouldn't like that here. Just gut the toilets and change windows in the canteen, put in heating - small changes. "People want Thurles the way it is - we're a small country track and that's the way it's going to be. Racing here is like a big family day out, full of old friends." And that's what it will be today for Ireland's only family-owned course on one of the track's big days of the year today. The Molony's four daughters, Patricia, Annemarie, Helen and Kate will all muck in. Riona will chase about with purpose while Pierce, straight of back for the first time in a while, will be back on familiar ground, patrolling his patch with a roguish smile and interminable good humour. The stand at Thurles: basic it might be, but the regulars like it and there are no major changes planned at the track. |
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tks silvergreaser....., a lovely piece , makes you appreciate thurles that little bit more , i wish pierce all the best with his health....
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The stand at Thurles: basic it might be, but the regulars like it and there are no major changes planned at the track.
Do the regulars really like it workrider or just no choice but to except it?. |
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those of my generation would be used to it i'm afraid , so therefore it would be acceptable to a degree , i'm sure most of us would like to see it upgraded ,but as they say it'll do...
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thanks silver.
But it didn't make sense for us to block it i.e. Two-Mile-Borris what does that mean? Hard to credit that a serious racing publication would print something like this that's more appropriate to the tone of Woman's Way or Ireland's Own. |
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I imagine it means that they didn't see any reason to lodge objections to the planning authorities when it was going through, seems fairly obvious to me anyway. Not an expert but assume it would be difficult to get planning to build racecourses in the vicinity of an already existing course?
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Déjà vu indeed
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ttt (and make no apologies to no one for doing it).
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Catch Me ifyoucan • October 5, 2017 3:26 PM BST
Anyone give a fiddlers about racing this Thursday ? |
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I made my first visit to thurles last winter and I loved the place when I go racing in England I tell people it's a place they must visit ,I shall be back again this winter and am really looking forward to it,it's a breath of fresh air.
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^Nice to see such a positive comment.
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(((((THURLES THURSDAYS)))))
...2 meetings in October and 3 in November. Thu, 10th October, 2019 Thu, 24th October, 2019 Thu, 7th November, 2019 Thu, 21st November, 2019 Thu, 28th November, 2019 Sat, 21st December, 2019 Sun, 19th January, 2020 Thu, 6th February, 2020 Thu, 20th February, 2020 Thu, 5th March, 2020 Sat, 21st March, 2020 |
