Inside Track: Harness racing returns to Dundalk Stadium
Inside Track with Joe Carroll
It’s not only horse and greyhound racing that have taken place since Dundalk Stadium opened its doors for the first time a little over two decades ago.
Poc Fada na hÉireann was staged there when Foot & Mouth prevented this endurance test from being staged on its traditional course, over the Cooley Mountains.
Another event that has attracted entries from beyond this country, the cross-country Rás na hÉireann, was also decided on the circuit over which the horses ran before the all-weather track played host to its first meeting, in 2007.
The great Cavan runner, Catriona McKiernan, won the ladies’ race in the proverbial hack canter.
No need for a photo-finish – the rest were well in arrears as the smiling Catriona made her way up the home straight.
Now comes another international event. Well, not exactly now, but in a few months’ time.
There was harness racing at the venue before, but that was confined to this country’s drivers and their horses and sulkies.
In August, the European Apprentice Driving Championships are being staged, which the sport’s Irish governing body, the IHRA, tells us marks “a significant milestone for the organisation and for harness racing in Ireland”.
Also: “This prestigious international event will bring together some of Europe’s most promising young driving talent, showcasing the next generation of competitors in a sport steeped in tradition, skill and precision.”
In the lead-up to the Championships, individual qualifying competitions will be held across Europe, with each participating country selecting its own nominees to compete in Dundalk.
To some, harness racing might look like a contest for slow horses. True, the steeds might not run as fast as those thoroughbreds from Aidan O’Brien’s stable; but the driver, sitting on his lightweight sulky, whip in hand, must know a thing or two about steering and, like an O’Brien jockey, know when to ‘go for home’.
The meeting’s on Sunday, the 23rd of August. More about it at the time.