Thurles racecourse will close, says Molony

ONE of the consequences of yesterday’s announcement of a new track for Tipperary is confirmation Thurles racecourse will close.

Thurles has long been in need of a major facelift, but remains much loved by it’s National Hunt patrons in particular.

The promoter of The Tipperary Venue (Richard Quirke) and Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) stressed they are very conscious of the history and tradition of racing at Thurles racecourse, under the management of the Molony family. He revealed that discussions have taken place with the Molony family and an understanding has been reached on a transition process.

For transition read that, as soon as the turf track is up and running at the Tipperary Venue, Thurles will close.

This was confirmed by Pierce Molony, manager and owner of Thurles racecourse, last night.

He said: “We met with Richard Quirke and Michael Lowry in the early part of the summer. We were very impressed with their plans and realised this project was going to go ahead. We are not in a position to invest in the course at Thurles and, if we won’t invest, then neither will HRI. Richard made us an interesting offer to transfer our fixtures to The Tipperary Venue. Discussions are on-going, but once the turf track is ready at The Tipperary Venue, Thurles will close.”