New members appointed to the Racegoers Consultative Forum

Published: Tue 23 Jul 2019, 4:15 PM

Last updated: Tue 23 Jul 2019, 5:16 PM

Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) have announced that six new members have been appointed to the Racegoers’ Consultative Forum (RCF).

Facilitated by HRI, the RCF has a total of 14 members drawn from all over the country. Forum members represent racegoers and their brief is to bring ideas and feedback to senior executives in HRI to improve the race going experience for both new and regular racegoers alike. The forum members meet HRI four times a year, in addition to writing formal reports from the racecourses under their remit and liaising with the racecourse mangers in their region. The forum is a statutory committee established under the Horse and Greyhound Racing Act 2001 to represent the views of racegoers.

Eugene Kelly from Tyrone will represent the North East and Northern Ireland region which includes Downpatrick, Down Royal and Dundalk.

Steven McGuinness from County Down has been appointed the Northern Ireland representative for Downpatrick and Down Royal.

Tom Galway and Mark McGrath, both from Wexford, will represent the South East tracks – Clonmel, Gowran Park, Thurles, Tramore and Wexford.

Heather Downey from County Meath and Kara Gabbett from County Wexford will represent student racegoers. Heather is studying Equine Business in NUI Maynooth and Kara is studying English in University Limerick.

These roles are on a voluntary basis for a period of three years.

Brian Kavanagh, CEO of Horse Racing Ireland said: “Horse Racing Ireland is delighted to welcome the six new members to the Racegoers Consultative Forum. Their appointment will bring new perspective and fresh ideas to improve the race going experience. Much has been achieved in recent years through HRI’s capital development programme to improve customer facilities; however, the work of the RCF gives us valuable insights from experienced and dedicated racegoers which help us to constantly improve the quality of the racing product and the raceday experience. I would like to thank all the forum members for their dedication and look forward to working with them in coming years.”