Horse sense?

Suggestions Irish horseracing would benefit by consolidating the number of tracks around the country has caused heated debate within the sport. Declan Colley canvassed a number of racing experts.

IT is said that change is the single thing that people, as a rule, resist most. Yet, it is an irony that the one constant in everyone’s lives is change. However, when someone suggests radical change of any kind, it is inevitable that polarisation of opinions occurs and, here in Ireland, that truism is particularly applicable.

Take, for example, when Jim Bolger suggested — in an interview in this newspaper — that Irish racing authorities consider the future of some courses. He said: “It’s a nonsense having three tracks in Kerry and I don’t think even proud Kerry people might argue against the fact that their needs and those of the industry would be better served by one state-of-the-art track in the county. The people down there think I’m picking on them, but the same situation exists in the southeast, where you have Tramore, Wexford and Gowran Park, and it is the same in Tipperary, where it could easily be asked if three tracks are necessary.