It is 25 years since the late Aga Khan told an audience he was tired of parking his keister in unsatisfactory surroundings at the Curragh racecourse.
He put it rather more eloquently than that, declaring himself “an articulate sufferer at racecourses that do not meet acceptable standards of efficiency, convenience, practicality and comfort”.
Instead of just moaning, he did something about it. It can be argued that a vastly wealthy royal could afford to put his money where his mouth was. But even so, ponying up a reported €15 million to buy the hotel at the back of the old Curragh stands so it could be knocked down, therefore freeing up space for redevelopment, spoke of a man tired of roughing it.
It is 10 years since plans for the revamped Curragh that we know today were first revealed. Simon Coveney, who was Minister for Agriculture at the time, called it “one of the most significant investments that Irish sport will have seen in many years”. The then-chairman of Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), Joe Keeling, described it as the “most important venture in the modern history of Irish racing”.
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The original budget was for €65 million and it was to be finished by 2018. By the end of the tender process, it was €72.3 million. Unforeseen delays – or cock-ups – included having to redo the parade ring for an extra €500,000.
So, in 2019, the revamped Curragh was officially opened, a year late. The final cost was €81.5 million, €36.5 million of which was public money through HRI. The impressive new stand was named, appropriately, after the Aga Khan.
There were teething problems, such as the embarrassing whistling sound the new stand roof made when the wind blew in a certain direction. There was also the departure of Curragh chief executive Derek McGrath over lack of unity, as he saw it, on a shared vision for the racecourse. The biggest challenge of all was the Covid pandemic.
The push for redevelopment was driven by an elitist vibe
A lot of water and money has been passed since the Aga Khan decided to set the ball rolling. Ultimately, however, the aim of delivering a flagship, luxury facility for racing’s great and good has been achieved.
It is a modern facility, which, by most measures, is lovely to look at. It is also, by most measures, predominantly unloved.
Pinning emotions to locations is an illogical exercise, but that doesn’t prevent lots of people from doing so anyway.
There are those in south Dublin who don’t know the back end of a horse from the front end of a BMW 7 Series, but whose annual Christmas pilgrimage to Leopardstown is as important a festive ritual as fighting with the in-laws.
Just a few weeks ago, a record attendance of 42,138 crammed into the Punchestown Festival’s Friday card. It was frantic, raucous and felt like much of Kildare was on the razz on their own doorstep.
Different racecourses have their own identity. Galway is as much part of the Irish summer as rain. Smaller tracks like Ballinrobe and Kilbeggan exert a local pull that puts higher-profile courses to shame. Laytown has sand. Gowran has mud. But to too many people, the Curragh suggests exclusivity.
That’s partly to do with the nature of the racing and having all the classics, as well as most of Ireland’s group one races. But it’s not just that.
The push for redevelopment was driven by an elitist vibe. Rather than failure to pinpoint any shared vision, the concept was essentially to put the best side out and impress international neighbours by transforming a down-at-heel venue into a place the rich are happy to play in. In that sense it has succeeded. But it patently lacks a sense of popular engagement.
The three-day Guineas festival begins there on Friday. The first classics of 2025 will be run over the weekend. So will the Tattersalls Gold Cup. It is flat racing at its finest.
Last year, there was an official attendance of just over 14,000 over the three days. Only 5,000 showed up for the 1,000 Guineas. The Curragh’s biggest day is the Derby, which last year drew an attendance of 11,418. The other big date, its leg of the Champions Festival, saw 8,645 pass through the turnstiles. The grandstand’s capacity alone is 13,000.
Such figures illustrate that the overriding response to the Curragh’s revamp has been indifference.
The argument can be made in racing terms that exclusivity is what the Curragh is supposed to be about. The private money behind the redevelopment can certainly afford not to worry about empty seats.
But since almost half the cost has been picked up by the taxpayer, such a position smacks of complacency. And, rightly or wrongly, an unfortunate “them and us” attitude has arisen that will be hard to shift.
Maybe in time, indifference will turn to enthusiasm. Back in the day, even the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, a modern architectural masterpiece, got flak for being a colossal waste of public money. The secret to being liked is often to just hang around long enough.
Generating warmth for the Curragh, however, might turn out to be the final and most difficult part of its revamp.
Something for the Weekend
The bulk of Derby trials are run but OPPORTUNITY (2.05) could still put himself into the Epsom picture with a good performance in Saturday‘s Listed contest at Goodwood. Significant progress from his Haydock maiden win can be expected.
JARRAAF (6.50) was progressive last year and should step up again this season, starting on his reappearance at Salisbury on Saturday.
