Successful opening of ‘The Matchbook Straight Seven’ at Cork Racecourse with Irish Minister in attendance

After trialling of the new ‘Matchbook Straight Seven’ took place at Cork Racecourse Mallow on 23rd April, the racecourse had a successful opening on Friday as part of the racecourse’s two-day ‘Race and Taste’ Festival. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed TD was in attendance for what was a landmark day for Cork Racecourse.

The first race over the straight seven was the valuable, Matchbook Straight Seven Handicap and was won by the Dennis Hogan trained and ultra-consistent performer Turbine. The mount of Killian Leonard kept on strongly in the driving rain to land the contest for the Boherna-based stable.

Former Mayor for County Cork, John Paul O’Shea said: “This is a great asset to the Racing industry and a great boost for the economy in North Cork. I look forward to seeing some good horses compete on this new track over the coming months.”

Groundworks began in 2017 to extend the existing six-furlong sprint track at Cork Racecourse Mallow, making it one of only two straight seven-furlong facilities in the country. The €500,000 development was funded through the Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) racetrack improvement scheme as part of the overall Capital Development Scheme.

Horses galloped over the Matchbook Straight Seven for the first time towards the end of April and trainer Aidan O’Brien commented: “It’s something really exciting. We never had a seven-furlong track like this in Ireland before, it’s a flat fast seven furlongs, horses don’t miss a beat down there, the ground was beautiful. I think it’s really exciting.

“It’s different class. This is a great track. Like I said, it’s real flat, fast. It dries out really well, the ground gets lovely and quick. We’re just very lucky to have it, a stand and facilities like this, stable yard, parade ring. It’s great for us to have it in this part of the country really.”

Fozzy Stack said, “It’s an exciting thing for everybody, straight tracks are at a premium in this country and it looks in fantastic shape, it’s great. I think it’ll be a big addition to racing in Ireland.”

Champion jockey Donnacha O’Brien said, “It’s lovely, it rode lovely, very very fair, obviously very even, not a single bump in it. Both horses I rode on were lovely and smooth, moved very well. I was delighted with it, it’s a great facility and I think it’ll be a big bonus to Irish racing. A lot of tracks in England and abroad are going to be straight sevens, straight miles, so it’s a great bonus to be able to have one here on our back door.”

Seamie Heffernan added, “It was a very good six-furlong track and they’ve redone the surface with an extra furlong. There’s only one other track that can match it in this country and that’s the Curragh, so it has to be a massive boost. I’m well used to riding on good tracks when I go to Britain, but the Irish tracks can be tight. This will be a good, fair track. It’s what racing needs.”

Chris Hayes said, “I thought it was beautifully presented, the soil has bedded in lovely, it’s a lovely fair track. There are no ridges or undulations, just a real wide, level, proper galloping track and I’m looking forward to racing on it in a couple of weeks.”

Mark Brosnan, CEO of Matchbook said: “We are delighted to be sponsoring The Matchbook Straight Seven, the new seven-furlong course at Cork Racecourse Mallow. This will be a unique addition to Irish racing and hugely positive development for Cork Racecourse.”