Turf Club management will decide today where it will operate from for the next six months after a fire destroyed the racing body's headquarters at the Curragh, Co Kildare, on Saturday night.
The chief executive of the club, Denis Egan, said yesterday evening the premises had been completely destroyed. "All we have left are the walls."
He said, however, that 90 to 95 per cent of the club's form and racing records, some of which date back to 1760, had been saved. He also said the fire would have no effect on racing.
The Turf Club is the regulatory body for both flat and national hunt racing as well as point to point, across the 32 counties. Its Curragh headquarters were opened by former taoiseach Liam Cosgrave in 1977. Some 25 people were employed there.
"The speed at which the fire went through the building was truly amazing. I was passing here last night," said Mr Egan, "and looked over from my car at 7.10pm to the premises as I always do. All was in darkness. Then I got three messages on my phone saying there was a fire. I got back here at 7.30 and it was a fireball. The flames were being fanned by the wind - it was a very stormy night." By 7.45pm the building was destroyed, he said.
Four fire engines and two water trucks rushed to the scene from the Curragh, Monasterevin,Naas and Newbridge fire stations. Mr Egan said there was no indication about the cause of the fire, though it appears to have started in the attic. The roof collapsed and destroyed most of the contents.
"But records were not as badly damaged as we feared. The firemen were fantastic. They just went in and started firing cabinets and files out." He said most of the files were in metal filing cabinets and were saved.
Forensic detectives arrived at the scene at first light yesterday and handed back the premises to Turf Club management at 2.15pm. Mr Egan said about 15 people were helping with the salvage operation throughout yesterday.
He said a significant proportion of records were computerised and the club had a good computer back-up system.
"We will decide [ today] where we will move to and hope to be up and running by Tuesday."
The two options open to the club was to move "across the road" to the Curragh racecourse where there was some vacant accommodation and from where operations could continue for the next six months, or to find a permanent new home.
Mr Egan said there would be no impact on race fixtures.
"Most of that work is done out on the racecourse. Our biggest problem will be administration of the relicensing of horses and jockeys, which will have to be done at the end of the year, for 2006."
The mood among salvage workers yesterday was "optimistic", he said. "It could have been a lot worse. No one was injured. No one was on the premises at the time. Records can be replaced. People can't."
