Turf Club to return to the LRC

RACING NEWS: THE TURF Club and their officials are getting ready to return to the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) ahead of next weekend's threatened strike, but both sides appear to be digging in ahead of any talks.

It was confirmed by the Turf Club yesterday that they plan to train temporary personnel who will officiate at the Leopardstown and Clonmel fixtures in eight days if strike action goes ahead. That training is due to begin today.

The Turf Club Officials Association (TCOA) have voted overwhelmingly to strike tomorrow week if their dispute with racing’s regulatory body over wages, conditions and service cuts is not resolved.

The TCOA request for both sides to go to the Labour Court hasn’t been taken up, but the Turf Club have written to the union, Mandate, confirming a willingness to return to the LRC.

Yesterday Turf Club chief executive Denis Egan said: “We are going to the LRC in the interests of racing and to protect jobs. However, we are going under very strange conditions, as normally the threat of a strike would be deferred, but in this case the union have not agreed to defer the strike. That being said, we will attend with an open mind.”

That hasn’t stopped the Turf Club making contingency plans, though, in their efforts to make sure racing goes ahead next Sunday when full teams of temporary officials are expected at both fixtures if required.

“We are working on a plan to have a full team working at the two meetings,” Egan said. “Mandate have already been informed that we will be training personnel with a view to ensuring that racing goes ahead.”

Up to 10 officials looking after stewarding, the scales, starting and other tasks are usually required for a single fixture.

In other news yesterday, the Turf Club’s Racing Statistics for 2009 were released and it showed that one jockey, amateur JJ Smyth, tested positive for drugs (metabolite of cannabis) last year, just the second jockey in Ireland to test positive for drugs.

There was one positive alcohol breath result from 932 tests taken at 18 meetings.

Eight positive results for prohibited substances were taken from 2,858 tests on horses.

Egan said there was “disappointment at the confirmed positive drug test on a rider, and one positive breath test, particularly in view of the excellent record prior to this”.

He also expressed disappointment that “three of the positive results on horses were wholly avoidable, as the substance found in each case had been administered to the wrong horse”.