Clonmel's cut trees, with the new weigh room site situated on the far side of the parade ring© Photo Healy Racing
Clonmel racecourse's manager has reflected on a near-miss at the track last month due a fallen tree on race-day, while also confirming a €2.1m new weigh room building is at an advanced stage of planning.
On September 5th, a tree fell into the parade ring missing members of the public as runners paraded for the fifth race. With the equine-entrance blocked, the parading horses exited under the human archway while the pre-parade ring was used for remaining races.
Racecourse manager D.J. Histon says “we'd call it an act of God and the timing of it was unreal when you think about it. If that branch had fallen in a different place, we would have a different story but from what I'm told, it fell slowly so gave people an advanced warning.
“Thankfully nobody was injured and the stewards took corrective action, with the remaining races being paraded in the pre-parade ring.”
A row of trees beside the parade ring had been cut for yesterday's fixture, with Histon adding “we have trimmed and cut down those nine trees and intend to continue cutting others, away from the parade ring. They are lime trees, which I haven't seen many of, and while they offered cover in bad weather, that is now gone although safety comes first.
“We took down poplar trees in the past to facilitate an ambulance road but they were well away from spectators. I suppose the parade ring area has now been brightened up, so that's the positive.”
Regarding future plans for the course, Histon added “we have received planning permission for a new weigh room which will be located on the turnstile side of the parade ring. It will be a dedicated state-of-the-art building for industry workers and participants, and it mirrors the IHRB's guidelines for staff and stewards.
“We appreciate the present building isn't at a satisfactory industry standard and while we had planning approval some years ago, covid stuck so we didn't get it out to tender. We now believe we have it right and there is a benefit to that, as we can now incorporate new guidelines, so ours will be the first weigh room to incorporate those.
“The contracts have to be signed by the end of November, we believe it will be a 10-month build so this time next year we should be operating out of a new building.”
He expanded “in tandem with that, we have irrigation plans as, currently, we are hamstrung and don't have an on-site water supply. It is nearly impossible to water two tracks so yesterday's card was hurdle-only and we lost the Captain Christy Chase to Sligo on Wednesday.
“We are looking at two options for water storage facilities and if we had a proper system, could possibly get a meeting in July. The idea is to have a system to hold plenty of water on site and not to be relying on third-parties. We mightn't have the biggest facilities but hopefully can then maximize them to the best of our ability.”
Next month's Clonmel Oil Chase is the course's feature race and Histon concluded “Sean Connolly, and family, and Clonmel Oil have been supporting us for years and we're looking forward to next month; it has always been a great race and has been won by fantastic horses over the years.”
Past winners of the 2m4f chase include top-notchers Imperial Call, Edredon Bleu, War Of Attrition, Beef Or Salmon, Doran's Pride, Douvan, Sizing Europe and, last year, by recently-retired Allaho.
