Owners and trainers rue Tralee's loss as May fixture list continues to contract and dry ground bumps up watering costs

Tralee abandonment whittles May fixtures further
(Photo HEALY RACING)

Tralee: cancelled meeting further reduces May fixtures

News that the meeting at Tralee a week on Sunday has been cancelled has whittled down an already reduced May fixture list even further.

The site of the old racecourse in Ballybeggan Park played host to the likes of Dawn Run and Vintage Crop in its heyday. Although racing under rules there came to a halt in 2008, it has remained a point-to-point venue since 2011, and has proved popular with its near ten-furlong lap making it one of the larger courses on the calendar.

Having been sold late last year, hopefully this will not be the end of the track's link with racing. However, the cancellation means the end of the season now feels even closer, with just three fixtures remaining once this weekend’s action is completed.

The number of fixtures in May has steadily been contracting. Ten years ago, 16 fixtures were held, and it looks as if just 12 will be staged this year if a replacement for Tralee cannot be found.

The end-of-season Kinsale fixture has been lost from the spring programme since 2019, after the controversial decision by the sport’s regulator to bring the conclusion of the season back a week, and this year Stradbally, so often a mainstay of the May programme, ran just one fixture in April.

Recent weeks have proved an example of the challenge for organisers that comes with running at this time of the year.

The dry spell, combined with the record temperatures, has led to conditions quickening appreciably. So much so that the ground for last Sunday’s Muskerry Foxhounds fixture at Ballindenisk was described by the IHRB as good to firm, firm in places.

These dry spells can result in committees being faced with costly bills for watering. However, they can be offset to an extent by strong entry numbers that fixtures in May have been receiving.

Last weekend, Stowlin, Ballindenisk and Dawstown each received between 130 and 180 entries, while this weekend, the fixtures at Bartlemy and Loughrea both attracted more than 150 entries.

There is clearly an appetite and a demand from connections to run horses at this time of year, and the loss of any further fixtures from the May calendar in years to come will only exacerbate the challenge even further.