‘It will be very tough to get people back racing’

EDDIE Moran no longer owns any racehorses but he remains a prominent figure in Irish racing as he looks after racehorse owners at a number of tracks.

“It’s all down to the Fairyhouse manager Peter Roe,” he explains. “I knew Peter well when he was running Tipperary. I was a sponsor there and he would drop by the pub when he was passing with some race passes for clients.”

Peter remembered his old friend when he moved to Fairyhouse. He called Eddie before the Irish Grand National and told him he had a job for him. “He wanted me to look after the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, at the races. The former Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne was on the board at Fairyhouse and I knew him well from his Templemore days, so he made it easy for me.”

Things took off from there and, with more racecourses putting a bigger emphasis on looking after owners, Eddie found himself looking after owners at Cork, Tipperary, Navan, Naas and the Curragh. In 2018 he won an award from the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners for his services.

“On a raceday I could be anywhere – from the stableyard to the car park or upstairs. Owner now get a bit of food at most racecourses and they use a bit of common sense when it comes to tickets. I saw a lot of these things being done at small British tracks when we went over with Davids Lad years ago. We were treated like kings over there. I have a few ideas in my head on how things could be even better and I hope to get a chance to progress them when racing comes back.”

Eddie, also a county councillor, believes that racing could really struggle to attract racegoers this year as the inevitable recession kicks in. “It will be very tough to get people back, especially to midweek meetings, and I think admission fees will have to be cut.”