The racers were followed by dozens of spectators’ vehicles that blocked traffic passing them out on the N7 and M3
The racers were followed by dozens of spectators’ vehicles that blocked traffic passing them out on the N7 and M3.
In highly dangerous manoeuvres, trailing cars drove side-by-side within inches of each other as passengers hung out the windows to get a better view.
Filming the races and shouting at the sulky pilots, they had to duck back in at times to avoid colliding with other spectators.
A convoy of high-powered SUVs were seen driving on the median and across slip roads to stop other motorists from trying to overtake the rolling road-block.
One race took place in darkness on Saturday evening, just after 7pm, between Rathcoole and Clondalkin on the N7 when the route would typically be busy.
Vehicles caught up in the racing
Another was staged the day before in daylight hours on the M3 where vehicles waited at junction 5 to spread across both lanes and the emergency lane as the sulkies came down the slip road.
The brazen racers and their followers went ahead with races even though the roads were busy with regular traffic at the time.
Such events are usually held between midnight and dawn to avoid the attention of gardai and regular road users.
Meanwhile, a senior gangland figure is taking part in the ‘Young Guns’ sulky racing contest involving competitors from Ireland and the UK.
The well-known criminal can’t be named because he is currently before the courts on serious drugs charges, but regularly posts about his horses on social media.
Sulky races on the N7 between Clondalkin and Rathcoole
The trotting ponies can change hands for in excess of €100,000 with significant sums of cash staked on races.
Although not considered as being of high-value outside sulky racing, one Limerick based drug dealer is known to have offered €85,000 for a prized pony.
Many of the horses are considered too young to be galloped on roads, according to animal welfare campaigners.
The races have become a key networking event between gangsters across Ireland and in the UK.,
Sulky racers on the N7 between Clondalkin and Rathcoole
Sulky racing has been cited in various cases taken by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) as how different individuals became known to each other.
This summer, property belonging to prominent sulky trainer William McInerney was seized by the Bureau.
In the case against McInerney, the trainer was described by CAB as a member of the McCarthy mob with “close ties and associations with hierarchy of the gang”.
He was known as a sulky trainer and jockey by other members of the gang and trained the horses at the property.
It was stated by CAB that sulky races are “very often illegally organised events utilised by criminal elements to launder criminal funds through gambling and horse sales”.
The property had been used by Limerick mob boss Eds Carthy’s gang to launder drugs cash 12 years ago.
The rural property at Kealderra, Bodyke, Co Clare included a house, 20 stables and 18.5 acres of land, and was bought for €223,000 in 2012 by the “trusted associate” of McCarthy.
McInerney had claimed in garda interviews the money came from various business deals and sales, but didn’t challenge the original CAB case.
The Bureau stated that during the investigation “a complex money laundering scheme” using various bank accounts and people in Ireland and Spain was dismantled.
In another CAB case surrounding a car firm set up in Limerick to launder drugs money, it was shown how the top players knew each other through a shared interest in sulky racing.
It brought together criminals from a variety of backgrounds and from both sides of the deadly Limerick underworld feud, with connections spanning the UK and Europe.
A leading figure in the infamous Dublin-based ‘Monkey Gang’ is known to have an interest in a horse which featured in another controversial race staged on the M3 motorway last year.
Kinahan cartel ‘foot soldier’ Nathan ‘Biggie’ Little is another enthusiast who has posted photos of horses and sulkies to his social media account.
