Tipperary to fight back

A rescue package for the beleaguered Tipperary racecourse will be put to the Irish Horseracing Authority before the end of July.

Tipperary course director Arthur Pierse said yesterday that he is confident a consortium of local business people and others involved in the racing industry will put forward suitable proposals for racing to continue at Limerick Junction in the year 2000.

On Monday, the IHA outlined its plans to off-load the racecourse at the end of next year and made the proviso that any acquisition of the property would be on the basis of Tipperary not having more than eight fixtures per annum.

Pierse yesterday condemned the IHA announcement as "arrogant". He also declared that the fight to keep Tipperary open could move into the political arena and that any rescue package will be dependent on the racecourse being given more than eight fixtures a year.

"That will be the crunch. Eight meetings a year is not enough. Ten is the minimum required. Nobody wants a Dutch auction but any less is not practicable," said Pierse.

He added: "A number of locals are very interested in saving the racecourse and I think the chances of it happening are pretty good. In a situation like this, it's probably best to be not in the hands of the IHA, who clearly have not had a policy for the track. "The IHA should be very grateful. We will be the ones taking the financial burden and taking all the flak. If they give it to us we will make Tipperary survive."

As for Monday's statement by the IHA, Pierse added: "We expected it but we didn't expect the arrogant attitude of `that's it'. That's not an attitude to put to anyone. It was arrogant. It's one thing to lose the racecourse, it's another to try and take away the lifeline too."

The IHA chief executive Noel Ryan was at a public meeting in Tipperary town on Monday night. He said yesterday: "I was at pains to say that this is not the end. The IHA are not going to run Tipperary but that doesn't necessarily mean it will close. We are effectively inviting the board of directors and others to come forward with a plan that will allow it continue outside the ownership of the Authority."

As regards the fixtures issue, Ryan added: "Lots of racecourses only have eight fixtures or less and make a fist of it. Sometimes at Tipperary, there were only 1,600 people at a meeting, with only 500 or 600 paying in.