Reckless sulky road races back up and running around Ireland after lull
Last weekend, another live-streamed video showed the reckless and extremely dangerous nature of the road races.
The ‘King of Road’ Scotland event had attracted an Irish following, many of whom were also at the Appleby Horse Fair in the UK last month.
The illegal sport, which is dominated in Ireland by infamous gangland figures, has a hardcore following of horse owners willing to take part.
Last weekend, another live-streamed video showed the reckless and extremely dangerous nature of the road races.
Spectators leaned out of car windows to watch the race and to film on phones as on-coming traffic was forced to take evasive action.
It came to an end just at a motorway junction outside Kilcullen, Co. Kildare, at 10.30am last Saturday.
The supporting cars and 4x4s, including those pulling horse-boxes, spread across both lanes and the hard-shoulders of the busy road.
There was even the bizarre sight of the convoys on both sides of the road slowly reversing together after an initial false start while an oil tanker slowly drove through the chaos.
A cyclist pedalling along in the hard shoulder is also seen in the clip being swallowed up by the pack of vehicles as they pass by.
Fans follow a race on a busy motorway outside Kilcullen, Co Kildare
Many of the races have recently switched from the N7 near Rathcoole and the M3 near Blanchardstown after attracting Garda attention.
One such race on the motorway in January this year sparked condemnation from the then interim Justice Minister Simon Harris.
Many of the biggest supporters and enthusiasts of the illegal sulky races are directly involved in serious gangland criminality.
Earlier this year, one member of a Limerick criminal clan who is facing serious drugs charges filmed a race from a motorway bridge outside Mullingar.
A leading figure in the infamous ‘Monkey Gang’ has an interest in a horse which featured in another of the controversial races staged on the M3 motorway.
Kinahan cartel ‘foot soldier’ Nathan ‘Biggie’ Little is another enthusiast who has posted photos of horses and sulkies to his social media account.
Trotting horses imported from the United States and those also bred here in Ireland and the United Kingdom can change hands for €20,000, while stallion stud fees are offered at between €500 and €600 per mare.
Although not considered as being of high-value outside sulky racing, one Limerick-based drug dealer is known to have offered €85,000 to buy a prized pony.
Followers offer bets over social media on which horse will win, with offers of a €500 bet not uncommon.
Animal rights activists say many of the horses are trained too young and that running them at high speed on tarmac roads is both cruel and dangerous.
The involvement of serious criminals in illegal road-races is nothing new, with Limerick mobster Christy Keane and Troy Jordan caught on video at a race more than 20 years ago.
More recently, in 2017, the Criminals Assets Bureau (CAB) discovered that a horse which had been bought and imported from Australia for €18,000 while they were targeting Ballyfermot gangster David Reilly.
It was heard that in September 2015 a sulky racing horse named ‘Ants in his Pants’ was bought from Australia and transported to Ireland.
The horse was bought in auction for a record price, and investigations revealed Reilly as co-owner of the animal.
Reilly and his gangland mentor Derek ‘Dee Dee’ O’Driscoll are suspected by gardaí of having extorted more than €500,000 by providing ‘security’ to building sites that had been attacked by their minions.