Racegoers to get half price racing in Curraheen’s July Sale
Curraheen general manager Liz Igoe has introduced a special July offer whereby there will be a 50% Discount Voucher inside every race card and this voucher can then be exchanged on a return visit in July to avail of half price admission. The presentation of the voucher will mean €5 general admission, €2.50 student and OAP entry and €10 Family admission. The vouchers will not operate in conjunction with Restaurant packages.
The developed stadia all over the country have been offering Sales packages on all-in Admission and Dining in recent months and these have proved extremely popular. While the profit margins may be very small for the tracks, the Tote figures do benefit considerably as does general turnover. In addition, such dining experiences are a tremendous advertisement for the product.
In these recessionary times a positive approach is absolutely vital and hopefully we will see more and more of such initiatives to boost attendance and betting figures.
The annual St Joseph’s Foundation meeting will be staged tomorrow night at Curraheen and a big crowd is anticipated for a fine programme of racing. Saturday’s card will include the semi-finals of the O’Coileans Bar A2 550 as well as the heats of the Irish & European Holdings A3 Tri-Distance and the Getting Out A1 575.
Entries close today for a one-off A3 Novice 750 to be run on Thursday next while Saturday is the closing date for the 12 dog Munster Greyhound Supplies N2/N3 Unraced Stake which will commences next Thursday. Also closing on Saturday is a 12 dog A5 525 which will be run next Friday.
The big event on the calendar this week is the Boylesports International at Dundalk on Sunday evening and there is quite a divergence between the prices advertised by the sponsors and those issued by Cashmans. The most notable differences are the Cashman quotes of 5-2 Shelbourne Aston and 4-1 Skywalker Queen while Boyles go 7-2 and 3-1 respectively about the pair. I must say, the 4-1 about Skywalker Queen looks big value, particularly with three-time winner Matt O’Donnell in her corner. She is also the best drawn greyhound in the race with the striped jacket.
But a man with an even better record at Dundalk is Patsy Byrne who has won the event as owner or trainer on no less than four occasions. This time the man from Duagh has the favourite Ballymac Ruso and he looks the dog to beat.
The full Dundalk card is now available on the IGB website and it really is a mighty programme with thirteen races and some intriguing open contests. It all gets underway at 7.45 on Sunday evening with the big race scheduled for 9.30 p.m.
Cashmans Dundalk International betting is: 9/4 Ballymac Ruso, 5/2 Shelbourne Aston, 4 Sky Walker Queen, 6 Cash Dream, 7 Kinda Ready, Accordello
The other big event of the weekend will be the final of the Oran Majestic Unraced at Galway on Saturday and here trainer Owen McKenna has big prospects of landing the €10,000 prize. He has two runners, Exciting Dec and Wonder Strike and the first named is owned by his wife Sian. Exciting Dec clocked a brilliant 28.42 last week and a repeat would surely suffice. But this is a trappy contest and a slick start is absolutely essential.
Mention of Galway, there is a change of format for this year’s Race Festival. There will be five nights racing instead of the normal seven. Racing will be staged on Sunday, July 26th but there will be no racing on the Monday and Tuesday nights which are evening meetings at the horse festival. Racing will resume on Wednesday and continue each night through to Saturday.
The Ladbrokes Open 350 will be the only open sweepstake and instead racing manager Ollie Hester plans to stage a number of one-off opens over 525, 575, 700 and 810 yards throughout the week. There will also be a number of 18 dog stakes for different grades and distances.
Back to this week’s action and the events around the country. On Friday night the semi-finals of the Sierra Communications Longford Derby will be run at Longford, while the same night the Thurles Fresh Milk Tipperary Cup will be staged at Thurles. Thurles will be a busy spot as on Saturday they will have their Munster Inter Track Challenge and this should be an interesting meeting.
The tempo is stepping up in a big way at Youghal where the Cashmans Free Admission Mondays commenced on Monday night and will continue for the next three weeks. And on Friday night the valuable Hondo Black Southern Oaks will get under way. There is a top class entry for this stake and the favourite to land the €6,000 prize will be Mick O’Donovan’s recent Irish Oaks runner-up Lady Glenard. She goes in the third heat where Shine And Rise and Epic Encounter look the main dangers.
Other leading contenders for the top prize would include Cabra Tiny, Montana Swift, Tooquicktoocatch, Rising Smoke, Rossa Baby, Slick Sioux, Bit View Marie and Blasket Music.
The semi-finals of the Ned “Snodger” Quinn Memorial A3 Stake will be run at Kilcohan Park on Saturday while the Paddy Sharkey Bookmaker A2 Tri-Distance to be run over 525, 550 and 575 will close on Monday next and the heats will be run on Friday. Commencing on Saturday week is the 12 dog Barkers Basket D1 730 while commencing a week later, July 25th, will be the two run Duke Special At Stud A1 575.
Finally, a reminder to owners of the top trackers, the Boylesports Champion Stakes will close to entries at Shelbourne on Monday and the semi-finals of the 18 dog spectacular will be run on Saturday week.
