TODAY is a key one for the Curragh. One of the most important races of the year will be run in front of an audience of 6,000, a significant percentage of whom will be there in an official capacity.

The debate on the rights and wrongs of continuing to race at the ‘headquarters’ of Irish racing is somewhat irrelevant this morning. Racing has gone ahead at the Curragh and the imposed capacity has not been seriously threatened at any of the earlier meetings staged this year. That in itself is a huge concern, but is an issue for a broader discussion.

When the board and management of the racecourse made the choice to continue to race during the redevelopment work there were two days of racing that must have concerned them, Irish Derby day and Champions’ Weekend. Both would be expected to attract crowds in excess of 10,000, and significantly so in the case of this weekend. Planning regulations restricted the numbers allowed to attend.

For what it is worth, and I have been asked this many times, I believe that racing should have stopped and the building work been carried out without interruption. Precedents have been successfully set elsewhere.

However, the counter arguments are strong, not least the uniqueness of the racecourse itself and its fairness as a true test of the racehorse. The decision to continue to race was made, but it was not unanimous. There are views held by some stakeholders that alternative arrangements should have been made.

Many believe it was an open and shut case. Either racing continued uninterrupted or it should have closed fully for the period of the redevelopment. Was there another solution? How seriously was the possibility of transferring the two biggest days, crowd-wise, to Leopardstown considered? It would have been a tough call, but the Curragh would have continued to enjoy the benefits of media rights for the majority of their race days, while the public relations nightmare it has endured would have been ameliorated.

What transpires today, and what fallout emerges, may yet have us rethinking positions we have adopted on the matter. Rather than condemn outright the decision made to race, let’s wait and see what happens. Everyone should keep an open mind for the moment – including the powers that be at the Curragh. Decisions such as these have to be made in the best interests of Irish racing.