Racecourse to move to larger site as part of €25m facelift

WATERFORD and Tramore racecourse is to undergo a €25 million facelift which involves moving the course to a bigger site.

The new 183-acre site at Lisselan in Tramore, Co Waterford is where the company intends to develop a purpose-built modern racecourse to cope with the surge in demand.

The new site is 100 acres bigger than the existing one and lies close to the site of the old racecourse on the seaside resort’s Back Strand which was used until 1912.

The new site will allow considerable scope for developments that would not have been possible at the current track’s location on Graun Hill in Tramore without very significant capital investment and prohibitively costly land acquisitions.

Waterford and Tramore Racecourse general manager Sue Phelan said the intended transfer to the new site is largely driven by increased interest in race meetings at Tramore, with a 33% rise in attendance figures over the last two years leaving the current track close to capacity. The new facility will also have bigger parking facilities.

“This is obviously a very exciting first step towards relocating the racecourse to a larger and more suitable site. We have already had the location of our proposed new racecourse visited by a number of leading racehorse trainers and jockeys and the feedback has been unanimously positive,” Ms Phelan said.

She stressed that racing would continue at Graun Hill until the new development is complete - and the work is expected to be finished before the end of 2008.

Ms Phelan said further information will be provided to shareholders in the racecourse company at their AGM on October 12.

Mayor of Tramore Lola O’Sullivan said it was great to see racing being moved back towards its original location. She said she would wait and see what would be built on the existing racecourse site before commenting further.

“The land at the old racecourse will have to be rezoned. We have no space in Tramore for supermarkets and shops and I would hope to see such development allowed there,” she said.

Fianna Fáil councillor Dan Cowman also welcomed the announcement, adding he was anxious that racing would continue on the existing course right up when the new one opens.

“We will have a lot of work to do in providing the infrastructure for this development,” he added.

* The next race meetings at Tramore are on October 13 and December 31/January 1.