SEPTEMBER 5th, 2017. Put this date in your diary, or put a large ring around it on your wall or desk calendar. Make sure the afternoon is cleared of work and make a plan to be in Co Meath.

What is the occasion? On that Tuesday there is a unique race meeting in Ireland, one of its kind in the world. Next year is the 150th anniversary of an annual event that was first recorded in 1868. This is Laytown.

Laytown occupies a special position in the racing calendars of Britain and Ireland as it is the only race meeting staged on a beach and run under the rules of racing in these jurisdictions. The meeting is held less than 30 miles north of Dublin. Taking the M1 Dublin to Belfast motorway, racegoers exit at Junction 7 heading to Julianstown and on to Laytown.

A 10-minute walk from Laytown railway station will also give those travelling to the meeting easy access, with regular services from Drogheda and Dublin’s Connolly Station. The journey time from Dublin is about 50 minutes. The racecourse also operates a courtesy bus service from the station.

Manager Kevin Coleman, who occupies the same position at Bellewstown, in in charge of this unique raceday and it comes less than a week after the end of the racing season at his other track where they have a two-day fixture on August 30th and 31st (and congratulations to connections of Tigris River who warmed up for his Galway Hurdle win with a recent victory at Bellewstown). In the last two years a combined total of more than 13,000 people attended the races at Laytown and hopefully weather conditions will play their part in making this year’s renewal a successful one.

Today all races are run in a straight line and over six and seven furlongs only. The number of participants is also restricted now to 10 runners. Racegoers are safely ensconced behind barriers in what is known locally as ‘the race field’.

Given the special nature of the races, the Turf Club has a number of specific conditions applying to the meeting, and these include the fact that all runners must have started at least three times and be aged four years or older. While the use of starting stalls is conditional on the state of the ground, no runner at the meeting is permitted to compete wearing blinkers, visors or any form of head or cheek adornment. Inexperienced riders are also not permitted to participate.

****

This week representatives of six of Europe’s seven racetracks which stage official thoroughbred racing on the beach gathered for the inaugural meeting of the European Beach Racing Association at Plestin-les-Greves in Brittany. This loose association, under the auspices of the European Mediterranean Horseracing Federation, has been formed to establish a communication network between those responsible for these meetings, to identify best practice in ensuring participant and spectator safety, and to raise the profile of this distinct and spectacular form of racing.

The meeting gave a mandate to Dr Paull Khan and the EMHF’s European Union consultant, Cathy McGlynn, to progress an approach for possible European ‘LEADER’ funding, within the EU’s rural development policy, for a project to promote beach racing to the benefit of tourism in the local areas which the racetracks serve. It is also planned to organise a tour for racing enthusiasts, taking in two or three of the beach racing tracks next summer.

Races for thoroughbreds under the national rules of racing are conducted at seven beach racecourses in Europe, and in addition to Laytown, they are Plestin-les-Greves and Plouescat in France, Cuxhaven in Germany, and La Laredo, Lo Loredo and Sanlucar de Barrameda in Spain.