Rain claims Tralee’s ‘farewell’ meeting
Rain wrecked the Festival meeting in August and while a fixture was resurrected this week, the final card on Thursday was abandoned due to waterlogging.
There is a chance the fixture could still be held sometime in the next week but the long-term plan is cloudy.
The Irish Planning Board turned down the request from a property consortium to redevelop the site but Tralee’s shareholders are still to hold an annual general meeting to decide if they want to keep the course open.
Tralee’s veteran general manager Timothy Griffin has overseen proceedings in his position for eight years but has been a regular at the track far longer.
“It’s awful, but they said it wasn’t raceable today,” he explained.
“They are going to see if they can reschedule it in a couple of days but I am not sure we are going to see any more racing here.
“Everything is very much up in the air and the planners will all be watching each other. There are people who want to sell, people who don’t want to sell and those who have very little say in the matter.
“I was there for the first meeting in 1946 and I’ve been here pretty much ever since.
“It’s doubtful there will be another racecourse in Tralee but you never know what will happen with this one. We just need someone to come along and invest.”
