Fairyhouse racecourse, home of the Irish Grand National, has taken the first step towards selling part of its lands and redeveloping its facilities.
The course has asked Meath County Council to rezone land it owns next to the racetrack for commercial and residential development.
The track's owner, Fairyhouse Club Ltd, a subsidiary of State body Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), owns the track. The club bought the 28-acre site to the south of the racecourse as an investment several years ago.
Matt O'Dwyer, chief executive of HRI's property and commercial division, told a recent meeting of Meath County Council that Fairyhouse plans to redevelop its facilities.
HRI chief executive Brian Kavanagh told The Irish Times at the weekend that proceeds from the sale of any surplus land at Fairyhouse would be used to fund that redevelopment.
A sale of part of this land has been on the cards for some time, as the course has had to restructure its finances and needs cash for redevelopment.
The business lost close to €300,000 in the 12 months to the end of June last year. Until 2002 it hosted the Witnness Festival, which is now called the Oxegen Festival and is held at Punchestown racecourse. That loss contributed to trading difficulties at the racecourse over the years.
The 28-acre site was originally a farm and is still used for grazing. It has yet to be decided how much will ultimately be sold.
The State body took ownership of Fairyhouse last year by converting loan stock, held as a guarantee for €2.5 million advanced to the company, into ordinary shares.
The company's balance sheet for June 30th, 2005 shows that it had €6.4 million in debt due within a year of the balance sheet date.
However, HRI's takeover cleared €2.5 million of that. The accounts state that a substantial amount was owed to Anglo Irish Bank. That has been cleared and replaced with an inter-company loan from HRI. That debt is between €3 million and €4 million.
Fairyhouse hosts flat racing between May and September, but is best known as the home of the Irish Grand National, the biggest prize in Irish steeplechasing. The Pat Hughes-trained and Philip Carberry-ridden Point Barrow won this year's race.
It also holds a number of other important meetings on the Irish National Hunt calender, including the Drinmore Chase and Hatton's Grace Hurdle.
Last year's Irish Grand National winner, the Martin Brassil-trained Numbersixvalverde, went on to win this year's Aintree Grand National under jockey Niall "Slippers" Madden.
