DUNDALK Stadium received some good news from the High Court yesterday in their long-running case against 33 on-course bookmakers.

An earlier judgment found that the racecourse had wronged the bookmakers by preventing them from reclaiming their pitches when the all-weather track opened in 2007. However, yesterday Judge Gerard Hogan awarded only limited damages to one of the aggrieved bookmakers and there are indications that a further ruling next month on legal costs could also be sympathetic to Dundalk.

Bookmaker Francis Hyland, whose claim was taken as a test case on behalf of almost all the other layers, said: “I have been awarded €15,000 for the value of my pitch and a further €8,000 in lost earnings. The judge took the view that, after year one when it became clear that other racecourses would always respect pitch seniority, I should have paid the asking fee to return to the Dundalk betting ring while the case was ongoing. Because of that, the judge heavily cut back on the damages I was claiming.”

FEBRUARY DATE

A ruling on costs will follow on Friday, February 6th and also on that day Justice Hogan is expected to award damages in the cases being taken by bookmakers John Hughes and Pat O’Hare. Those cases have subtle differences to the one taken by Hyland. O’Hare, for example, wants his pitch back while the pitch offered to Hughes was not the same as the one he had previously held.

Dundalk Stadium CEO Jim Martin said: “Until the final judgment is delivered on February 6th we are making no comment.”