TOTE AWASH WITH DIRTY LAUNDRY

Where did you spend your first euro? Probably on a racecourse this week judged by the amount of punts that where converted into the new currency by the Tote, writes Alan Magee.

Then again maybe not. Apparently there were an extraordinary amount of 50 and 100 punt notes being changed at Tramore on New Years Day, with Tote Ireland`s racecourse manager Dermot Battigan reporting `a very substancial amount` of currency being converted over.

Battigan paid tribute to the Tote staff for `providing a great service`, and also to the public for their patience as queues were the order of the day. However the real truth is that money laundering was being carried out on a grand scale as the Tote aggregate at the seaside venue showed a near 15 per cent drop on the corresponding meeting last year.

Punters obviously needed time to familiarise themselves with the new money, and some missed out on having a bet in the queues. But with so much money in circulation on the track you can only draw one conclusion.... Dig the old notes out from under the mattress, stay away from your friendly bank as they will only ask awkward questions (have you ever heard of the word TAX?) and use the Tote laundry service to change a spare 5 or 10K.

The window attendants at Tramore were changing 500 punts at a time and, not surprisingly, this was amended to 100 two days later at Thurles. The Tote were obviously put in a compromising position between accommodating their customers and

handling the `funny money`.

I know alot of what goes on in racing can be a bit of a mystery but I had great difficulty seeing anything at two meetings this week. My bulbs are certainly not as sharp as they were (a few other parts of the body are also showing signs of wear and tear but that`s another story). Anyway I digress. It was so dark throughout the afternoon at Thurles on Thursday that you could be mistaken for believing evening racing had come around again, while racegoers at Cork on Saturday were treated to a brief glimpse of the horses flashing past the post with the remainder of the track shrouded in fog.

The elements are of course out of our control, and the stewards at Cork had to make a difficult decision. The willingness to stage a meeting must be subject to the interests of safety, while punters should be considered in the equation. After all they are coughing up 13 euro for the privilege of clicking the turnstile, and how many casual racegoers on Saturday will be rushing back for the next meeting? Don`t lose sight of the bigger picture!

Alan Magee