IT is less than a year since the establishment of Curragh Racecourse Limited was announced, together with plans to redevelop the historic Curragh racecourse, bringing it right up to date and positioning it for the future.

There are references to racing taking place on the Curragh as far back at the early 1700s and the name itself is a bit of a giveaway, translating as ‘place of the running horse’.

Chariot racing occurred on the famous Kildare plains back in the third century, so there is a rich history to be preserved and developed upon for future generations.

The task of leading the Curragh into this new dawn falls upon the shoulders of chief executive officer Derek McGrath, with Paul Hensey in the role of director of racing. The Curragh also incorporates the training grounds and these are world renowned, being the starting point in the careers of many of the greatest racehorses ever to grace the turf.

While the project to develop the new state of the art facilities is underway, the racing season continues apace. Home of the classics, the first four of these jewels in the racing crown have already taken place, while the final classic of the year, the Palmerstown House Estate Irish St Leger, will be one of the highlights of the Longines Irish Champions Weekend.

That event was officially launched this week and includes world-class cards at Leopardstown on September 10th and at the Curragh the following day. Commercial manager Evan Arkwright is pleased with the interest already expressed in the weekend and with the entries received to date for the feature races.

However, his focus is not just on that weekend and, fresh from a bumper crowd for last weekend’s Keeneland raceday when Caravaggio created a huge impression as his burgeoning career was taken to a new level, he is juggling a number of other raceday initiatives, designed to get more and new people through the turnstiles.

The Rose of Tralee is one of Ireland’s iconic festival events, drawing thousands of visitors and millions of euro in revenue to Ireland and Kerry. However, it is at the Curragh meeting on August 28th that the newly crowned Rose of Tralee will be making one of the first official appearances of her new reign.

One of the key aims of the organising committee of Irish Champions Weekend is to get increased attendances at the races. Apart from having some of the world’s best racehorses on show, there will be many other attractions on the day, not least the hugely popular Longines most elegant lady and man competitions, a parade of champions and the Moyglare kid zone which will be bigger and better than ever. Preregistration for the elegance competition is available now on the Curragh racecourse website.

The Curragh is working with the Irish Pony Club to highlight their great work and to bring families to the headquarters of Irish racing for the day on September 25th. After all, these young people will form the basis for the race-going public of the future.

With the actual development work due to commence in 2017, the Curragh is planning to celebrate the past and herald the future with exhibitions and more on the final weekend of the 2016 racing season.

This two-day meeting on October 9th and 10th will give racegoers a last chance to sample the Curragh as it is today, take a nostalgic look at some of the great moments from the past, and look forward to the new world class facilities that will be available and in full use for the 2018 racing year.