Racecourse Evacuated After Bomb Scare Thousands of racegoers were forced to flee one of the most popular race events of the year at Down Royal yesterday following a telephone warning of a bomb being left at the course outside Hillsborough. It was the second meeting in a row hit by a bomb scare. On November 5 racing had to be abandoned after a warning and the discovery of what an elaborate hoax device in a marquee at the side of the race track. The 8,000 people who had their day ruined were given a free #5 bet to be used at the Boxing Day fixture. A police spokesman confirmed the course was evacuated after an anonymous telephone bomb warning was received. A search was mounted and the meeting was abandoned. The announcement of an evacuation was made halfway through the opening race after the racecourse received two coded phone calls claiming there was a bomb in the racecourse buildings. But the jockeys in the first race did not hear this and rode to a finish. After just over an hour, the racecourse management decided following a phone call with Horse Racing Ireland chief executive Brian Kavanagh that the meeting should be rescheduled to today with the exception of the first race. Down Royal manager Mike Todd said: 'It´s unbelievable this has happened for the second time in just over a month. 'We are determined not to let this beat us and I can tell you that we have scoured every inch of the property since the last scare in November and we were happy that racing could go ahead. 'Sniffer dogs were used and could find nothing which would cause any alarm.'(C) PA Sport
