It was a day of many records at Portmarnock Raceway on Saturday 25th July…….Brywinsmagicpotion clocked in at 1:56.0 shaving one ten of a second off the previous track record held by Pans Landing, taking out leg two on the Ireland/UK Inter Dominion.
Sepia Sands was the early pace setter clocking a 26.7 opening quarter and a 56 half. Meadowbranch DJ parked out in the fast lane for the early part took up the running as they headed into the back straight second time round, Brywinsmagicpotion having got the near perfect trip challenged in the home straight and denied DJ a second bite getting to the wire by half a length margin.
It’s on to York next Saturday for leg three over a mile and a quarter and back to Portmarnock on Sunday 9th August over a mile and a half trip for the ultimate decision.
Leaderboard – Meadowbranch DJ, Brywinsmagicpotion – 14, Meadowbranch Romeo – 8, Saunders Mach3 – 4, Wellfield Official, Sepia Sands – 2, Astounding, Rhyds Destiny – 1.
It was also a record for Ireland ……. to host a full Trotter program on Saturday to mark the visit of the General Secretary of UET Mr. Jacques Chartier as part of an audit process for Ireland’s accession to UET.
Having visited the main training establishments in the greater Dublin region on Wednesday Mr. Chartier and his wife moved on to Cork and Kerry for a two day trip on Thursday and Friday before making their way back to Portmarnock for Saturday’s engagement.
On Sunday morning they visited Dundalk Stadium with a camera crew from the French Racing television station Equida to view firsthand this magnificent racing facility.
Ironic as it may be…. it was seven years to the day when Ireland had hosted the first of two harness racing events at Dundalk Stadium in 2008 and it looked equally as fitting yesterday as it did back then to play a major role in shaping the way forward for trotting to be developed in a proper and fitting manner and play it’s part alongside the other 22 European trotting nations.
