Racing: A Turf Club meeting has issued a number of recommendations after investigating the deaths of four horses during the Tramore Festival between the 11th and 14th of August.
While attributing no blame for the incidents to the course itself, the panel took on board the advice of agronomist John Souter, who made five suggestions:
- Where practical, watering should commence at the earliest possible stage to ensure that ground is no faster than good to firm for all future race-meetings.
- Bends where slipping has occurred on fast ground should be watered, aerated and sanded as required.
- Trainers should ensure that horses are properly shod to minimise the risk of slipping on fast ground at Tramore and the Turf Club will introduce new rules to deal with the proper shoeing of horses.
- The shoes of all horses that slip or fall in future should be examined and trainers should be penalised if horses are inadequately shod.
- Consideration should be given in future to the appropriate grass length depending on underfoot conditions.
Four fatalities occurred on Sunday, August 14th, but the Turf Club was unanimous in agreement that “there was no commonality between any of the fatalities and the condition or layout of the track was not a factor in any of the cases.”