Lightbulb of racing winter continues to shine brightly

Daniel McDonnell enjoys a night at the races at Dundalk. Photo: Healy Racing

Daniel McDonnell

As the evening passes at Dundalk, the shouts after every race grow louder. The punters who leave the bar to watch in the stands steadily lift the volume.

After Oisin Orr powers home Wooster in the penultimate race of last Friday night's card, a bunch of twentysomethings with northern accents gallop towards the bookies. Winner all right, it would appear.

Shabra Emperor and jockey Conor McGovern with trainer Anthony McCann – a regular at the track – after landing a handicap at the Co Louth venue last year

"There he is Stevie," shouts one, gesturing towards his pal as the horses canter back past them en route to the parade ring. "Ask the jockey if you can get on."

"He might break its back," responds another of the group, laughing as they prepared to gather their cash and return to the bar.

This is the lightbulb of the Irish racing winter, the Friday-night entertainment that is the one constant in rain, hail or shine.

The scene is a 10-year-old facility tucked just off the M1 on the site of the old National Hunt racecourse.

Ironically enough, its creation has become a godsend for a posse of smaller trainers who would have a profile that would more typically be associated with Jumps racing.

Yes, the blue bloods of the Flat game use Dundalk too. Every meeting throws together an eclectic bunch and it has been the launchpad for Breeders' Cup winners, for high-class animals from Coolmore and the other elite operations. Form in the better races can attract high-powered buyers from Hong Kong and the other lucrative overseas markets.

But Dundalk also offers enough low-grade fare to make it accessible to smaller trainers, owners and syndicates with modest resources.

Plenty within Irish racing cannot imagine life without it.

double "I probably wouldn't be in the game," answers Monaghan trainer Anthony McCann - who took over from the late, great Oliver Brady - after registering a double last Friday.

"I've concentrated the yard on Dundalk in the last year and a half and it's worked out very well. National Hunt has got so competitive now, so I can't see myself getting horses to go over hurdles again unless it's the summertime when the big boys ease off. Only for the type of races they have here, I wouldn't be (training)."

He is not alone in that view. Another victor on the night was Mayo-based Fergal Birrane, who is also reliant on Dundalk's October-April schedule. "I think it's fantastic," says the Killala man. "We have no hills at home, we are working on a flat surface all the time, a Polytrack, and we use the beach too. Dundalk is a flat track and our horses seem to be used to it."

The only complaint aired by those outside Leinster is the timing of the last race which is generally 9.0 and makes for a long drive home.

"It'll be 2.30am when we get back," says Birrane, ahead of his four-and-a-half-hour trek west. "And then we have horses to take out in the yard in the morning."

Timing is everything to Dundalk, though, and that's because the key market is not worrying about driving anywhere. The bulk of the audience is in pubs, betting shops and homes around Ireland, the UK and beyond.

Attendances in December are good because of the festive season, but it's a loyal hardcore that attend in the other months. Yet they are only a fraction of the audience that follow and fund the scene; the dozen or so bookies at the track are not overworked. All-weather racing exists to give the betting public a consistent opportunity to keep going when daylight fades. The value of the media rights paid by SIS for each meeting at Dundalk is substantial because it fills a vital gap in the schedule; this is the unromantic reality.

Dundalk Stadium CEO Jim Martin doesn't miss too many Friday nights but has found himself in establishments in London and Spain where eyes were trained on the screen showing his local track. He even knows people in Dundalk who go to their local to build their night around events just down the road.

But the positive knock-on effect is that it keeps scores of people in the racing industry in work.

There is a lesson here too, in that a compact facility built from scratch caters well in the hospitality department for the punters and the participants. Dundalk's architects went to the all-weather tracks in the UK as part of their research and they have constructed a facility that can feel homely on cold, cold nights.

"This is fantastic," says Birrane. "They have all the amenities you need, hot water in the wash areas which is not common at other tracks and that makes a huge difference. And if you want to school here at any time, the facilities are here when you need it."

That accessibility builds goodwill, and it's part of keeping the business going. On race night, there are 70 to 80 stadium workers employed, with Tote, Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) and Turf Club staff on top of that.

The venue also hosts greyhound racing every Friday and Saturday - horse-racing nights are always followed by the dogs to really weed out the doubtful social stayers - and that offers year-round employment. There are 18 full-time staff working on upkeep during the week.

"There's a lot of the faces that would be here for the horses every Friday in the winter," says Martin, who spends the meeting moving around chatting to familiar faces."

The major gripe for the racing professionals is that the doors aren't thrown open on a more regular basis.

At the bottom tier, races are oversubscribed and bill-paying owners are struggling to get a run for their money. Martin would like more dates in the diary.

"Our equivalent tracks in the UK race 70, 80 to 100 times a year," he says. "At 38 fixtures a year, this is the least-used all-weather track in the world so, yes, we would like to race more but that's a decision which is up to the HRI.

syndicates "They have to weigh up all the costs, but we can see more syndicates coming back into racing now with the economy picking up and what they really want to do is see their horses run. Opportunities have to be found to give them the chance."

Prize money is the major obstacle as the HRI want every race in Ireland to have a minimum pot of €10,000.

Despite having gone over their centrally-controlled budget for the year, the HRI have organised additional meetings this winter to try and satisfy demand.

"We've had two extra meetings in 2017 at short notice and Dundalk would have paid €24,000 towards the funding of that," says Martin.

The summer schedule is restricted to just two meetings, one of which is a July 12 affair that is cleverly scheduled to attract visitors from across the border.

A growing chorus of voices cannot see the merit of leaving a fit-for-purpose venue dormant for long spells, even though its core strength will always remain the winter service, when there is no other show in town.

"If Dundalk wasn't there, I'd hate to think what state racing in Ireland would be in," says Robbie McNamara, another trainer of National Hunt stock who has hit the target in Louth.

"The races may not be for the best horses in the world, but they run a business like it should be. It's the perfect venue to bring three or four lads to go on the lash for a night with the small horse. Dundalk has given people that opportunity."

They raced last night and go again tonight, a popular alternative to Christmas shopping. The temperature may determine how many punters stay indoors but, whatever happens, millions of people around the world will be watching.