THE harness racing season reaches a climax in the Cork region with the staging of the 2024 Red John Memorial Weekend this Saturday and Sunday at Lyre.
The weekend honours the late ‘Red’ John O’Donovan from Leap, who tragically passed away in January 2015. John was a staunch member of the harness racing community, as an owner, trainer and driver.
This festival has grown from the humble beginning of a one-day meeting in Manch to become the biggest grass harness racing festival in both Ireland and the UK.
This year marks the tenth renewal of the meeting which will be staged in its spiritual home at the farm of Ger Hegarty in Lyre. At the time of going to press, 126 entries from all corners of Ireland and a few from the UK will compete over the two days for prize money in excess of €85,000.
The main events of the weekend are the Red John Memorial Handicap Pace and The Maven Handicap Trot. Elimination heats of both will take place on Saturday with the finals set to take place on the Sunday. The Maven trot is sponsored as always by Bill Donovan from Florida who has West Cork roots and has forged a partnership with The Murphy Brothers from Innis Beg in Baltimore.
Other feature events of the two days include The Liam Carlin Memorial Free For All Trot which will see eight of the best of the imported French trotters go to battle.
The Red John Memorial Free For All Pace is another race that will see eight of the best Pacers go to post.
Breeding of pacers and trotters has become a big business and the younger generation in both codes will race against their own age group. The pacers will compete in the Two-Year-Old, Three-Year-Old and Four-Year-Old Grass Pacing Championships.
In the Trots there is the Three Year Old series all who compete here are bred in Ireland. Outside of the main events there will be a full supporting programme with racing for all grades of pacers and trotters.
Off the track there will be entertainment for both adults and children with Bradfield Catering on site. There will be a fully licensed bar. For the kids there will be bouncy castles and plenty of activities to keep the youngsters entertained .
Racing both days will have a 2pm start-time. The track is located approximately five miles from Clonakilty on the R588 heading towards Enniskeane.