Racing News: The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) have been called in to try to negotiate a deal which will prevent racecourse doctors from withdrawing their services.
The majority of Racecourse Medical Officers Association (RMOA) members are ready to stop attending race meetings if their long-running dispute with the racecourses isn't sorted out in the next 12 days, and they have called in the IMO to try to hammer out a deal.
At least two doctors have to be on duty at a fixture for racing to go ahead, and last March racing in Ireland almost ground to a halt when the RMOA threatened to strike if their demands on pay and conditions were not met by the Association of Irish Racecourses (AIR).
An interim agreement between the two sides ends on Sunday, and the RMOA have a December 10th deadline, by which time they want a more long-term deal thrashed out.
The RMOA president, Dr David Molony, said yesterday: "There is a deep sense of frustration among our members and we have referred the matter to the IMO. They are a professional negotiating body and this is now an industrial relations issue."
An integral part of the interim agreement was the formation of a forum involving the RMOA, the AIR, the Turf Club and the Irish Horseracing Authority. Proposals from that forum were put to the doctors at an a.g.m. over two weeks ago and they were flatly rejected.
"The vast majority of our members have had resignation letters on hold since last March," said Molony.
"We don't wish to be confrontational, but the AIR has to understand the depth of frustration here or people will just walk away. There are enough pressures in our own practices without having to cope with this.
"We have painstakingly emphasised our situation but nothing satisfactory has come of it," he added.
Part of the RMOA complaint last March was the daily fee of €254 they receive for racecourse duty, which they wanted to see doubled. But Molony stressed yesterday it was numbers rather than money they were worried about.
"There is an awful lot of goodwill from our people towards racing, but our average age is increasing and so is the workload and the responsibilities involved. Young people, especially with the costs of locum cover and so on, will not be prepared to do the job.
"There is also the problem that we are getting edicts instead of negotiation. For instance, one of us now has to be in an ambulance following each race. That's quite a significant change and it wasn't negotiated," he said.
The AIR chairman, Jerry Desmond, said last night that officials will meet the doctors' representatives early next week to try to resolve the issue.
Meanwhile, a notable absentee from the weekend's fixture at Fairyhouse will be the 2001 Doncaster St Leger runner-up Demophilos, who had been a possible to make his hurdling debut on Sunday.
Demophilos, runner-up to Milan when trained by Amanda Perrett, will, however, have to wait before seeing action over flights.
Trainer Dessie Hughes said yesterday: "He has been schooling very well but I feel he needs another week. He has had leg problems, but we have looked after them and hopefully, judged on his flat form, he could be top class."
The former Arkle winner Tiutchev is on track to take on Beef Or Salmon in Punchestown's John Durkan Memorial Chase on Sunday week.
Now trained by Martin Pipe, Tiutchev made his first start of this season over hurdles but will now revert back to the big obstacles.
"The Durkan is two and a half miles, which is Tiutchev's optimum trip," said a spokesman for the owners. "Although there may not be many runners, it does look like being a hot contest."
As well as Tiutchev, other cross-sea possibles for the Durkan include last year's Gold Cup runner-up, Truckers Tavern, and Keen Leader.
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