Tramore more than holding its own
During the so-called Celtic Tiger years there was more than the possibility of the unique track closing and being replaced by a far more modern facility not too far away.
But when boom turned to bust that notion died a thousand deaths and, do you know what, it was probably no bad thing.
As someone who used to very much enjoy racing at Mallow, when it was hardly the most attractive of venues, and to the old Limerick racecourse, where many a gamble was landed and facilities seemed almost irrelevant, I probably fall massively into the traditionalist camp.
But if it’s not broken why fix it is a solid enough maxim and the recent Tramore festival showed that the public still love going there and whether the new course, had it gone ahead, would have been quite so popular is very much open to question.
The Tramore executive were entitled to feel more than pleased with the way their four days went.
Galway was a huge success, with attendances and betting reasonably healthy, and Tramore continued the upward trend.
At least Tramore did as far as the crowds were concerned and it was delightful to see the crowds holding up through the entire meeting.
The course is what it is and the standard of racing, we all know, is largely of the moderate variety.
But the majority of the horses in the country fit into the moderate to useless category anyway and have to be catered for. Tramore more than adequately looked after that demand.
The good weather obviously helped and there was a spirit and vibrancy about the enclosures that was most encouraging.
On the Friday night almost 3,000 race cards were printed and they were sold out before the first race. On Sunday those 3,000 or so cards were gone before the third contest.
The only real downside was the bad fall suffered by Karen Kenny on the Saturday and, thankfully, she is reportedly well on the way to a full recovery.
Tradition dies hard in this country and Tramore, with its extraordinary run down hill into the dip and then back up again to the straight, is living proof.
Not much good emerged from the cursed Celtic Tiger, but the retention of the old Tramore racecourse might just be one positive!
to hear the criticism tossed in Joseph O’Brien’s direction on RUK on Saturday night, after Magician had been beaten into second in the Arlington Million.
Apparently, O’Brien should have exercised more restraint on the horse and arrived later and with one run.
I couldn’t be having that at all and, to my eyes, he did absolutely did nothing wrong and Magician just wasn’t good enough.
For a while kicking seven bells out of the youngster was a popular pastime and, indeed, was often warranted. But those days are long gone and this pilot makes few if any mistakes. I’ll tell you, he can’t get half get behind one when the need is greatest and there are plenty of us who have good reason to be grateful to him.
She is trained by Johnny Murtagh and remember we went on about her here relatively recently?
She began the season with a rating of 105, perfectly understandable given her high-class form as a juvenile. That mark had come down to 103 when she finished a disappointing third in a maiden at Naas earlier this month.
The handicapper then decided he would drop her a further 5lbs and she was a 98 when contesting another maiden at Gowran Park ten days ago. Chicago Girl continued her downward spiral, finishing only fourth of seven behind Dermot Weld’ hot pot, Sierra Sun.
So, the handicapper has tried again to get this right and dropped her 5lbs more to 93.
But she isn’t within an ass’ roar of being a 93 either and to come down substantially in the weights in this country really does take a long, long time!
making Willie Mullins’ Clondaw Warrior pay for his audacity at Tramore last Saturday.
The horse, having a first outing for Mullins and a first for over a year, won what should have been a competitive handicap with ridiculous ease by an unflattering eight lengths.
He got in off a mark of 52 then and the handicapper had no choice but to hit him hard and his verdict was a rise of 22lbs. So when Clondaw Warrior turned up at Roscommon on Monday night, he had a theoretical 17lbs in hand and looked a certainty.
But the seven-year-old failed to deliver and, essentially, went from being arguably the best-handicapped horse in the country to the worst!
Mind you the last time he ran over hurdles, he was rated 112.
That’s a moderate horse’s rating and, you’d imagine, rather exploitable.
