Courses to get €200m face-lift

The details of a major €200 million face-lift of Ireland's racecourses were revealed yesterday by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O'Donoghue and the chairman of Horse Racing Ireland, Denis Brosnan.

A total of €110 million is being provided by racing's ruling body in grant aid with the balance coming from the tracks in a "55 per cent-45 per cent" deal.

The €110 million HRI contribution is part of the extra €296 million guaranteed by the Government in September which safeguards racing's finances until 2008.

The principal cash injections will be to the country's premier racecourses with the Curragh and Leopardstown earmarked to receive up to €35 million each as part of major redevelopment work at those two tracks. Other significant contributions will be made to Navan (€8.1 million) and Ballinrobe (€2.5 million.)

Another €10 million is set to be given to projects at "category two" tracks such as Clonmel, Killarney and Tipperary with €10 million ear-marked for the proposed new all-weather racetrack at Dundalk which could be up and running by 2006.

"Horse racing is hugely popular in Ireland and to support this growth in popularity we need to provide the very best facilities at racecourses," said Minister O'Donoghue yesterday. "This new capital development fund will be double the size of the first fund which saw a total investment of €100 million in racecourses."

Brosnan said the new cash injection will be "the last for quite some time" and added that the upgrading of facilities is vital.

"The sporting public enjoys first-class facilities at Croke Park and shortly will have the same standard at Lansdowne Road. We must plan to match these standards at Irish racecourses," Brosnan said.

Also present at yesterday's press conference was the Turf Club senior steward Pierce Molony who reported that a planning application for the development of the Stand House Hotel and the provision of a new ring road at the back of the Curragh will be made next month.

The hotel was bought by the Ag Khan and given to the Turf Club as part of a radical new development at racing's HQ and Molony said that progress at the Curragh is "very positive."

Leopardstown is also getting a major face-lift and the course manager Matt O'Dwyer said a four- to five-year time-frame is likely for the overhaul of new buildings, entrances, car-parks and a new parade ring. The first phase of work, however, will centre on a new stable yard with a planning application likely to be made shortly.

Yesterday's announcement is the latest in a string of recent moves by HRI that also includes the likely development of an all-weather track at Dundalk and last week's decision to sell the racecourse at Tipperary.

The Limerick Junction site will be put on the market early next year and the HRI chief executive Brian Kavanagh said yesterday that substantial conditions will have to be met before any sale happens.

Kavanagh described a "minimum guaranteed period" in which racing would have to take place and any potential purchaser would also have to provide evidence of future investment plans at the track. As things stand, Kavanagh said, a minimum time frame could be close to 15 years but he stressed there is no threat to racing at Tipperary.

The chairman of the Association of Irish Racecourses, Jerry Desmond, predicted a "transformation of Irish racecourses over the next five years" because of the funding announced yesterday.

Nil Desperandum is the sole hope for Irish success in Saturday's Hennessy Gold Cup but he will have statistics to beat as well as a typically competitive field in the Newbury feature.

Frances Crowley's horse has been installed a 9 to 1 shot with Paddy Power to win but the Hennessy has been far from kind to Irish raiders in recent years.

Bright Highway in 1980 was the sole Irish winner until Be My Royal sprang a 33 to 1 shock in 2002.

Mick Fitzgerald is set to partner Nil Desperandum on Saturday and will be hoping that at least the timing is right. Last year, over the same weekend, Nil Desperandum put in a career best performance by winning the Grade One Drinmore Chase at Fairyhouse.

The Irish hope was one of 19 left in the Hennessy at yesterday's forfeit stage with the French trained First Gold topping the weights.

The Grade Three betfair.com Juvenile Hurdle will be the Saturday highlight at Fairyhouse and a total of 13 horses were left in the race yesterday. They include Nil Desperandum's stable companion Riverboatman as well as the highly-rated Cork winner, Don't Be Bitin'.

An interesting entry for the Shelbourne Developments Hurdle is the Noel Meade- trained novice Augherskea who won his sole jumping start to date at Down Royal.

Solerina, victorious in last year's Ballymore Properties Hatton's Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse, will bid for a repeat success in the Grade One contest on Sunday. The James Bowe-trained seven-year-old has landed both of her races over timber this autumn and heads into the two-and-a-half-mile contest after a recent win at Navan.

Last season Solerina defeated her stable companion and brother Florida Coast by eight lengths after making all and the pair look set to meet again this weekend.