No ordinary doctor will suffice

Racing News: The Turf Club have confirmed that GPs are not qualified to cover for regular racecourse medical officers who have declared they will withdraw their services from January 1st.

Without at least two doctors on duty at a meeting, racing cannot go ahead but the Association of Irish Racecourses (AIR), have already said they do not envisage a nightmare situation where there will be no medical services available. They have advised the individual tracks to negotiate their own deal with medical personnel.

However, the Racecourse Medical Officers Association (RMOA), yesterday described the prospect of returning to that kind of arrangement as "ad hoc". They also said that the AIR cannot just hire general practitioners and negotiate a rate of pay with them.

"The requirements under the Turf Club's own medical practices and procedures are quite stringent," said the RMOA chairman, David Molony.

"Everyone of us has had to do a pre-trauma hospital course every two to three years and we have to be fully cognisant of all the medical equipment in the ambulances. There is also the question of people advising their medical defence bodies for the question of insurance. If they don't they leave themselves wide open for medical and legal risk," he added.

The Turf Club confirmed the insurance requirements and the need for specialised training in life-support situations.

The RMOA also said that the Irish Medical Organisation has advised them that the problem that has arisen between them and the AIR will now be a national issue for doctors.

Molony said: "Our aim is to provide a quality medical service to everyone in racing and not have ad hoc arrangements as in the past. We are totally committed to a quality service for the future, not just some interim measures."

Dress To Thrill, a homebred Grade One winner for Walter Haefner's Moyglare Stud Farm, has been retired after disappointing in the Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park last month. She was 12th in the Grade One event over nine furlongs which she won last year. She will now return to Moyglare Stud to be mated with Sadler's Wells.