Racing/News round-up: The Turf Club are anxiously awaiting the outcome of a High Court action next week which could further delay the start of the €100 million redevelopment of Irish racing's headquarters at the Curragh.
Thursday week has been set as the date for a hearing into the possibility of the Friends of the Curragh Environment Ltd getting a judicial review into An Bord Pleanála's method of granting planning permission to the Turf Club for the building of a new hotel and road at the racecourse.
It comes almost two months after work was supposed to start on the construction of a new road at the back of the current stands, a move critical to the other planned future developments at the Curragh track. A Turf Club spokesman yesterday described the delay as "costly and annoying".
The racecourse facelift was originally sparked by the Aga Khan's purchase and donation of the Stand House Hotel to the Turf Club and a significant portion of the work, which includes a new grandstand, was intended to be completed by the summer of 2007. Next week's case, which will be heard in the Commercial Court, will be critical to the Turf Club's hopes of getting back to that sort of timeframe. "If the decision is positive there is no reason why we couldn't move quickly on the road," said the regulatory body's chief executive Denis Egan. "If it isn't, then it would create serious problems."
Next week's case is the latest stumbling block in the high profile project which is the most ambitious racecourse development ever proposed in this country. There have been objections to the new road and a new hotel while local sheep farmer, Percy Podger, a member of the Friends of the Curragh environment group, has also objected to Kildare County Council in regard to planning permission for the proposed new stands.
Less than 40 miles away there are also delays in the re-development of Leopardstown, with a proposed closure of the track to allow building work now likely to be deferred to 2009. Previous reports had said that Dublin's sole racetrack would close in 2008 to allow the building of new facilities which would include a new grandstand. However, the track authorities are still mulling over design plans for the project which will then have to be presented for approval by the board of Horse Racing Ireland.
"I reckon we are looking at the end of the summer before we will be able to present some sort of recommended design to the board. It's hard to be definite, and in the final analysis a lot will come down to the design itself. But we will probably be looking at a closure a year later than we thought in 2009," said Leopardstown's manager Tom Burke.
Champion hurdler Brave Inca was crowned Horse of the Year at the inaugural Anglo-Irish Jump Racing Awards at a ceremony in London yesterday - despite being rated 6lb lower than his counterparts over fences. Colm Murphy's star earned a rating of 167 last season, which saw him win four Graded races including victory Champion Hurdle.
