The Irish government's treatment of racing is scandalous - and we need to say so

Three weeks have passed since the Irish government's latest manifestation of its shocking contempt for racing in confirming that Galway’s festival would be restricted to just 1,000 people a day.

At the time, Scottish tracks were going from a restriction of 500 racegoers to 1,000 and the Leinster finals in Croke Park were heading for 18,000. Now, Scottish tracks are up to 5,000 and the two All Ireland Finals will host 40,000 fans apiece later this month.

Racing was being told to be happy with its lot for Galway, with capacity otherwise still capped at 500. In the interim, despite a vaccination programme that boasts three-quarters of the adult population fully inoculated, it has remained marooned in the corner like a disruptive pupil when it has been a model student.

Racing led the way in formulating and implementing Covid-19 protocols, yet the industry is being left behind and it will cost it dearly.

In the context of how so much else is ploughing forward, both here and abroad, it is an absolute travesty that Irish racing is being marginalised so arbitrarily.

We are continuously being told that the manageable spaces of stadia is the reason why other sports are accelerating so far ahead of racing, but that is nonsense.

For proof of that, consider that 5,000 people a day attended the Irish Open at Mount Juliet last month and that the terraces at Pairc Ui Chaoimh catered for 1,000 people at two of the recent marquee hurling clashes. That’s 1,000 mingling unfettered in a confined space, yet acres of racecourses, with vast outdoor spaces, defined grandstands and high-roofed, roomy restaurants, lie idle.

Hill 16, the GAA’s most raucous terrace, is also expected to be reopened for upcoming games at Croke Park, while restaurants and hotels are ploughing on with indoor dining thanks to vaccination certificates. It makes no sense, and the point that is beginning to infuriate just as much as the snub is the tame acceptance of our lot.

Empty spaces on Galway Plate day last weekCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

If we accept – reluctantly – HRI’s influence is limited by dint of it being a semi-state body reliant on government funding, others, not least the Association of Irish Racecourses, should be making a lot more noise.

The acquiescent silence smacks damningly of a sector too comfortable living off the money hose that is media rights, which many tracks have conveniently propped up by taking Health Service Executive dough for testing and vaccination centres.

Such meek supplication is scandalous. Fans and investors will find other outlets to throw themselves into as life elsewhere moves forward, so the industry needs to be mindful not to sleepwalk itself into irrelevance, because Covid won’t be here forever.

If Irish racing wants to thrive on the other side, it needs to get up off its hands and make some noise. No-one else is going to do it for us.

Read more on this subject:

40,000 at Croke Park, 500 at the Curragh: anger as Irish racing is left behind

Irish racecourses chief wants 'people back racing as soon as we can'

Blow for Galway as crowds for summer festival are capped at 1,000 for each day

Irish tracks allowed to host 500 spectators as government relaxes outdoor rules

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