ACCORDING to local racegoers Necarne point-to-point in Irvinestown fell at the first fence due to the event being poorly advertised.
Despite it taking place on a Bank Holiday weekend, small crowds attended the two-day meeting on Friday and Saturday, with horse racing fans in the county telling the Herald that they didn’t know the meeting was even on.
Derrylin trainer David Christie had three winners over the weekend, including Winged Leader who eased to his 20th point-to-point win, but he was also critical of how the event had been promoted.
“There’s a lot of local people and holidaymakers down here for the Bank Holiday that don’t even know that it is taking place. It’s very disappointing. I don’t know why it has got so little publicity,” Christie said.
“There used to be a sign up as you came into Enniskillen that all the holidaymakers coming into the town would see. It would have ‘Necarne point-to-point’ on it and the date of the meeting.
“That’s disappeared. It’s not there anymore. It really is hard to explain.
“A loyal supporter of local racing phoned me this morning asking if there was a point-to-point on in Irvinestown. They didn’t know it was on – that’s just not good enough.
“Necarne is always a great place to come for the races. It’s just disappointing that it hasn’t been advertised as it should be.”
Christie bounced back from a disappointing result at the Punchestown Festival on Friday when his stable star Ferns Lock finished down the field in the Champion Hunter Chase.
“Ferns Lock has had a long, hard season. When you go to these big festivals it takes a lot out of young horses like him. He’d come to the end of his tether and we’ll keep him for next season now,” the Derrylin trainer said.
“It’s always lovely to get some winners at your local track, so it’s ended up a good weekend overall.”
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