Can Pa Fitzgerald come good again with Sandy Sea during the Irish Cup at Limerick Racecourse THE famed venue known as Charity Meadows in
Clounanna, near Adare, may be very much a thing of the past, but the magic of the Irish Cup most definitely lives on and a superb jackpot of &euro 80,000 awaits the winner of the concluding classic of the coursing season at Limerick Racecourse this weekend. Ballybeggan Park, Tralee, became the alternative venue for the Irish Cup when Charity Meadows was closed and a brilliant show was run there for a number of years by Liam Brassil and Co. The event then returned to Limerick, under the auspices of County Limerick Coursing Club, and, according to John Field, Receiver of Entries, everything is in place for a great three-day festival of coursing this weekend. Not surprisingly, John Field, who happens to be the son of the former Chief Executive of the Irish Greyhound Board, Michael Field, was able to say this week that the entry for the Irish Cup is of the highest quality. “It’s a class entry out and out and, obviously, we are delighted about that,” he said. “We have the two finalists in the Champion Stakes, Catunda Ashmore and Sandy Sea we have the pre-coursing Derby favourite in Wallace Green and another Derby hot-pot in King Saunders we have last year’s two Irish Cup finalists, Castlemarty and Pick Me Inn, and we have the 2008 Champion Stakes winner, Cross Country. “That’s just for starters. Crafty Hugo, which was a leading fancy for the Champion Stakes until his withdrawal, is in there too, as are the two winners of the Derby consolation events, Atlantic Style and Sheeraghs Mocara. I could go on and on and all I can tell you is that we have class in abundance from 1 to 64.” Field says that the fine weather of late dried up the coursing stretch at Limerick Racecourse in a very satisfactory manner and, with an excellent stock of hares in place, he is very confident that three great days of coursing will be provided. “We in County Limerick Coursing Club aspire to very high standards and I have absolutely no doubt that the 2009 Irish Cup meeting will be up there with the best of them,” he said.
Supporting the Irish Cup will be the Woodlands House Hotel Irish Purse (winner, &euro 5,000), the Bill Chawke Irish Plate (winner, &euro 6,000) the Irish Stud Dog Owners and Agents Select All Age Bitch Stake (winner, &euro 10,000), the Dunraven Arms Hotel Inter Club Champion Working Members Stake (winner, &euro 2,500) and the Earl Of Dunraven Kilgobbin Stakes (winner, &euro 1,500).