Punters weather tough conditions

IT’S a winter sport with a challenge, for spectators.

“It’s the toughest game of all,” said a punter.

That was the heavily wrapped, unnamed punter’s summing up, as he stood by the rails at Powerstown Park racecourse in Clonmel braving cold winds and a horizontal blend of snow and rain.

The weather remained as much a talking point as the thrill of the sport as the final day of the national coursing meeting got into full swing.

Clare hurling legend and long-time greyhound man Anthony Daly offered his own take on conditions.

“Are we all mad?” asked the former player and ex-county manager as he shuffled briskly in a vain attempt to stay warm. Looking at the shaven-head businessman, who braved the arctic-type elements without a hat, I wasn’t willing to offer an honest answer.

As anticipated, punters and other followers arrived in their thousands to this verdant piece of south Tipperary to witness the climax of the big 2007 meeting.

If the amount of new four-wheel-drives, vans and saloon cars was anything to go by, the sport remains in rude health. And there was not even a demonstration in sight this week outside the confines of the arena.

In times gone by, anti-bloodsports campaigners have added their own bit of colour to coursing week in Clonmel, but the introduction of muzzling some years ago took the sting out of that particular tail, with few if any hares meeting their maker over the course of the three days.

Philip Maher, of Countryside Alliance Ireland, was happy signing up members and spreading the gospel about the rosy-looking future of coursing and other such rural pastimes. “We’re trying to keep growing our number of members and our database,” he said.

“In the event of any controversy or conflict, we’d have a good, strong membership base to help us in our campaign.”

Although, with the negative headlines a thing of the past and no apparent appetite among politicians for any sort of fight against coursing or hunting, Mr Maher and his colleagues are unlikely to be troubled in the near future.

“It’s going from strength to strength,” he said. “There’s people here from all over the world, from Britain, Germany, Austria and Russia. It gives Clonmel a major boost. You wouldn’t get a B&B within a 20-mile radius this week.”

The weather is always a big talking point and yesterday even more so. The figures struggled to reach 0C, and concrete-hard ground put off the start of the action for, at first, 30 minutes, and then an announcement that coursing wouldn’t start until 1pm was met with a collective groan.

Unlike previous days, no sun shone to thaw the ground and, as the day went on, the clouds delivered on their promise of a wet, wet afternoon.

A hot whiskey stand did a roaring trade, while supplies of hot soup in the Clonmel region were severely challenged.

As ever, happiest of all were the bookmakers, with favourites crashing once again — the biggest shock of all when local dog Stephen’s Dawn went out of the Boylesports Derby at the quarter-final stage, putting the champagne on hold down at the local.

Eventually, it was Micro Mover who ruled supreme, owned by a north-south coalition of Ciaran Magee from Coleraine and Thomas Crosbie of New Ross.

Barely had judge Tom Lawler waved the red flag to signal Micro Mover’s derby victory when the scattering began, the punters washed home by the weather to hot food and hot baths.