WHERE were you on Sunday, August 26th, 2007? I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend an historic day for Irish racing, the opening of the first all-weather track in Ireland, at Dundalk Stadium, held in front of a packed crowd. How, in these difficult days, we yearn for more of that.

The day featured an eight-race card, all of which attracted a maximum field of 14 runners, apart from the opening event for which 13 went to post. The acting stewards on the day, Peter Reynolds, Valerie Cooper, Brian Fitzsimmons, Cahir O’Sullivan and Peter Matthews, were kept busy, issuing suspensions to Kieren Fallon, Seamie Heffernan, Pat Smullen and Willie Supple, and also giving cautions to Declan McDonogh and Kevin Manning.

Even so, the day was a huge success and almost €1 million was wagered on course, divided almost equally between the Tote and the bookmakers. Douglas Taylor’s MCR Group sponsored all the races on the card and got value for money, with five of the finishes resulting in either a head or a short-head verdict. Doubles were recorded by jockeys Johnny Murtagh and Declan McDonogh, the former earning added kudos for winning the five-furlong opener on Ms Victoria.

Owned and bred by Tom and Cathy Burns at their Victor Stud, Ms Victoria was a daughter of Fasliyev and she had a few weeks earlier opened her winning account at the Curragh. She was trained by Michael Halford. Two other Curragh handlers, Eddie Harty and Ken Condon, visited the winners’ enclosure on the day, with Jim Bolger, Ger Lyons and David Marnane joining them.

The two features on the day were a pair of premier handicaps, worth €75,000 and €60,000. The now retired Charlie Swan saddled the nine-year-old Emmpat to win the more valuable of the two in the colours of Michael Mee. Billy Lee got the gelding up in the last strides to beat the English challenger All The Good, (who went on to win the Group 1 Caulfield Cup) saddled by Ger Butler who supplied three of the four overseas runners on the day.

Ado McGuinness did what he does regularly these days, landing the other premier handicap with the Pat Smullen-partnered Rainbow Rising, who was following up on his victory the previous month in the €120,000 Rockingham Handicap at the Curragh. In a tight finish at Dundalk the winner denied Benwilt Breeze and Senor Benny.

This opening all-weather meeting was the first of a dozen scheduled for 2007, but one of these was lost, in late October, due to dense fog. For the next four years some 23 or 24 meetings were staged annually, while that number increased to about 40 per annum from 2012 onwards. Another 24 meetings are due to be held for the remainder of 2020.

The late Brian Fitsimmons was a member of the stewards’ panel at the first all-weather meeting, and he also chaired the panel at the last meeting held on the turf at Dundalk. That was on September 5th, 2001 and the concluding race at that meeting had a title that reflected the uncertainty at the time. It was the John Hughes Bookmaker Please Don’t Say This Is The End INH Flat Race. It was won by the Jurado mare Lisa’s Dream, in the hands of Mr P.K. Casey, and she was bred, owned and trained by Oliver Finnegan. A month later she added a maiden hurdle at Downpatrick to her roll of honour.

Hats off to Dundalk for the vital role it has played, and continues to play, in Irish racing. While playing host at times to future Group 1 stars, it has been a lifeline for many owners and trainers of middle-ranking horses.