PUNCHESTOWN horse trials, which has had an uninterrupted 30 year history since its inauguration in 1966, will not be run in 1996, despite claims only 10 days ago that the event would definitely be running on its mid May dates this year.
Building work on the new Punchestown racecourse development is scheduled to begin on May 1st and it was felt that running a full international three day event only a fortnight after the National Hunt festival would cause an unacceptable delay.
The decision to cancel was finally made at a meeting last Friday between the Punchestown management committee and representatives of World Equestrian Games Ireland, the company that will be staging world championships in six equestrian disciplines at Punchestown and the RDS in 1998.
No official announcement was forthcoming until Sunday's sparsely attended agm of the Irish Horse Trials Society (IHTS), where national chairman Brenda Cawley revealed to a stunned gathering that there would be no three day event at Punchestown this year. It was stressed, however, that the horse trials would be back on the calendar in 1997 as a build up to the World Equestrian Games.
The IHTS central committee had given a February 15th deadline for a decision on Punchestown 1996 but, in spite of ongoing negotiations with two sponsors, no firm deals had been clinched and the decision to cancel was reluctantly made.
