Lennon moves down the road to Waterford
The vacancy arose following the appointment of current Waterford manager Alan O’Shaughnessy as Control Steward for County Kerry. Kathleen has filled the Youghal hot seat for four years and was previously at Curraheen Park for a few years.
In conjunction with these appointments two new positions will be advertised by the IGB this week: Racing/General Manager for Youghal and a new Sales and Operations Manager for Waterford in order to strengthen the team there.
We traditionally call third round night the real moving night in the Ladbrokes.com Irish Derby and it certainly looks like being the case on Saturday next when we will see all 48 contenders in action on the same programme. It is the trickiest card I have seen in years and it is an occasion when I would prefer to be a bookmaker than a punter!
My banker of the round is Graham Holland’s Meadow Bank Owl in Heat 2. An original ante-post fancy, Meadow Bank loves an inside draw and he has the red jacket in what is an ordinary enough race. If he reproduces the form of last week’s excellent victory then he will win this. Razldazl Barack is probably the main threat.
The brainchild of Michael Conway in Waterford, the Supporters Clubs Inter track A3 (No Bg) 525 will involved six southern tracks: Waterford, Clonmel, Enniscorthy, Youghal, Thurles and Kilkenny. They will each stage a 12 dog stake with the six winners going forward to the Inter Track Final which this year will be staged at Thurles.
The local stakes will commence in the week starting on September 5th while all dogs entered must have a minimum of two races run at their local track. The winner’s prize at each track will be €400 while the Inter Track Final winner at Thurles will receive €2,000 with the runner-up collecting €500, the third €300 and the unplaced finalists €145 each.
Following on from the success of the nationwide Down Syndrome Ireland fundraiser earlier in the year, a similar event will be staged on Friday, September 9th in aid of the Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA). The stadia involved will be Curraheen Park, Dundalk, Galway, Harold’s Cross, Limerick, Longford, Mullingar, Thurles, Tralee and Waterford. There will, however, be different dates for the Longford (26th) and Mullingar (8th) events.
All funds raised on the night will be invested immediately to avoid the dilution of the vital services which IWA provides to over 20,000 members, including Assisted Living Services, Resource and Outreach Centres, Driving Tuition, Sport and Holidays. Tickets for the national event cost €10 and this includes admission to the stadium, race programme and entry into a grand prize draw which will take place on the evening.
