Sun, rain, smiles and poignancy at the May Festival

KILLARNEY STAGED ITS FIRST RACE MEETING OF THE YEAR THIS WEEK -- AND IT DELIVERED ON EVERY FRONT

KILLARNEY Racecourse and its patrons experienced it all this week: sun, rain, colour, crowds, flat racing, National Hunt, fun – and even a few drops of poignancy.

The May Festival, the first of Killarney’s three annual meetings, ran from Sunday afternoon through to Tuesday evening, and a delighted Killarney Race Company Chairman Gerard Coughlan responded to the meeting’s success with a booming appraisal of the track and its racing.

“It’s the most beautiful racecourse in the entire country. There is no place quite like it.”

“The races have a great deal to contribute to Killarney; the three annual

festivals holding 80 races over a total of 11 days. The conservative estimate is that the races are worth in the region of €6.2 million to Killarney, with an additional €1.42 million in prize-money.

“Killarney’s reputation as a top class racing venue is growing at a great pace and that was very much in evidence last Monday evening when 2017 Cheltenham winner Rock The World – trained by Jessica Harington and now owned by JP McManus – competed on day two of the meeting and didn’t actually win,” he added.

The festival wasn’t short of smiles or cheers, but there were a few poignant moments. Monday night’s feature, the €40,000 Killarney National Steeplechase, was named in honour of the highly regarded former

secretary Finbar Slattery, and Gerard described this acknowledgement as a fitting tribute.

“It was always Finbarr’s wish to have a Killarney National and we are delighted to be in a position to remember him with a race dedicated to his memory,” he said.

“The JP McManus-owned Auvergnat took the spoils, while Carrigmoorna Matt took an earlier race dedicated to the late Sheila ‘Mac’ MacGillicuddy-Kelliher, a woman who was very popular locally.”

Prior to all that, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed was at the course on Sunday to oversee the opening of a state-of-the-art 54-unit stable yard, part of a major €500,000 development. The Minister praised the hard work of Horse Racing Ireland and Killarney Race Company.

Photo: Don MacMonagle Livia Fleury from Aghadoe, Killarney and Brooke Sugrue, Killarney waiting for judge Mary McBride to deliver her result on ‘Mad Hatters Day’ on the opening day of the Killarney May festival of racing on Sunday.