4 minute read
Emma Meehan
Emma Meehan arrived at a deserted Down Royal on the 2nd of January this year
with a large bunch of keys but little else. The venue had hosted its traditional Boxing Day meeting a few days earlier under the outgoing stewardship of former tenants, the Down Royal Company of Horse breeders. At the turn of the year, the old guard departed and course owners Merrion PropertyGroup took over the reins.“When I arrived here at the start
of January, the former staff (onlyone member of staff made thetransition to the new regime) hadgone and I wasn’t sure which keyworked in which lock,” she smiles.It could all have been a bit
overwhelming. But you get the impression that Emma Meehan wouldn’t be easily overwhelmed.A Newry native, she’s been steeped in the racing industry in Ireland for the past 14 years, having been an integral part of the team at Dundalk Racecourse,Ireland’s only all-weather track and a dual venue for both horse and greyhound racing. In fact, Emma led a team which secured Horse Racing Ireland funding for the development of Dundalk’s £35 million all-weather stadium.
“I suppose I always liked the thought of running my own racecourse, so when this opportunity came up, I didn’t have to think about it for too long,” adds Emma, a Queen’s University graduate who started her career in the communications sector locally. She’s prepared for a contrast between Dundalk and Down Royal. “At Dundalk, between greyhounds and an all-weather horse racing track, we had race meetings all the time. It was pretty much non-stop. Here at Down Royal, by contrast, we have 12 race days a year and we’re aiming to increase that to 13 by 2020 or 2021.”
Back in January, she had almost no time to get her thoughts and plans together before the pressure was well and truly on. “We had a meeting to plan for the 29th of January so we had to hit the ground running. It wasn’t easy but we did it and the praise and congratulations we received from the whole racing industry made all the hard work worthwhile.”
Since then, Down Royal has hosted its traditional St. Patrick’s Day meeting and another on the early May Bank Holiday Monday.
Emma Meehan’s first job, apart from learning how to open all of the doors around the sprawling Down Royal complex, was to recruit sales and marketing, hospitality and grounds staff to keep the place running. With two or three meetings successfully delivered, it gets easier but there’s plenty on the horizon.
The racecourse still has its two biggest meetings to come – the two-day summer flat racing meeting in June which includes the big Magners Ulster Derby and the two-day National Hunt festival in November.
The former operators of the racecourse departed at the end of December leaving only the fixtures and fittings for the Merrion Group when it took over. Emma Meehan and her small team had to start afresh when it came to Down Royal’s many corporate supporters… local companies and organisations who sponsor and take corporate boxes at racing events.
“We’re really pleased that 90% ofthe organisations who supportedracing here before have indicatedthat they’ll be back with us,” shesays. “That’s very encouraging.”
The Merrion Property Group, shesays, has a long-term vision for theDown Royal site, and as a companyit is prepared to invest in that future.The group is owned by Dublin-basedproperty developer Michael Roden.
Like most Irish race courses,it depends to a large extent on media rights (fees for the transmission of races) for its ongoing survival. But corporate support is also extremely important. “The operating costs at a place like this are vast,”Emma Meehan says simply.“When you see those operating costs against the turnover, it can look a bit frightening.
“That’s why we’ve got to workhard to bring in more corporatesupporters, and it’s also why weneed to sweat the assets hereat the site. We’ve got really goodfacilities here, including a mainfunction suite that can seat500 people. We need to be ableto use it for non-racing eventsand outside of race days.”
She’s all too aware that Irish horseracing attracts a few distinct ‘tribes’– the ordinary punters, the horseowners, breeders and trainers andthe corporate guests. “The secretfor us is that we have to appeal to allthree,” says Emma. “It’s not alwayseasy but it’s what we have to do.”Apart from the core business
of making sure that every forthcoming meeting is a success, Emma Meehan and her team face other challenges.
One thorny issue lies around payments due from the Horse Racing Fund. Operated here by the Department of Agriculture & Rural Affairs, it collects fees paid by on and off-course bookmakers and is supposed to pay these to Northern Ireland’s two racecourses at Down Royal and Downpatrick.
“Because of the change in operator here, we need a legislative decision to free up the money and that can’t happen in the absence of a devolved administration. So, we’re effectively missing out on hundreds of thousands of pounds which went in the past towards boosting prize money and attracting the best horses to come to Down Royal.”
Legislative problems aside, Emma Meehan isn’t short of confidence that Down Royal can retain – and enhance – its place at the very heart of Northern Ireland sporting and business life.
“Look, it’s really hard to beat a day’s racing,” she says. “Twenty five minutes of interaction with guests and friends followed by five minutes of action out on the course. It’s easy to see why horse racing and business go so well together.”
