Shocking footage shows sulky racers covering three lanes on busy main road

One of the most reckless sulky races yet captured on camera took place on what appears to be the N20 near Croom, County Limerick after 11am last Saturday morning.

At least a dozen vehicles with sulky race followers were three abreast on the south-bound carriage and hard shoulder with another string of vehicles also heading south, but on the north-bound hard shoulder.

The three-way race went ahead despite the busy traffic on the main road between Limerick and Cork city.

Vehicles from the entourage, with people hanging from the windows holding mobile phones, can be seen carrying out high-risk overtaking manoeuvres in a bid to get into a better position to watch the race.

One innocent motorist in a SUV goes to move in the north-bound hard shoulder when they spot the racers only to be forced to brake hard and stay on the main carriage way.

To add to the mayhem a recovery truck had stopped partially off the hard shoulder, effectively blocking one racer’s route, while a string of traffic - including a bus, drives through the mobile melee.

The chaos surrounding the race proved too much for even one of the sulky racers who pulls up his horse after cars pull in front of him.

One man standing on the overpass bridge to watch the race can be heard to say: “The boys were told not to overtake, there’s going to be war here now.”

The chaotic race was one of at least three that took place last weekend in Ireland with other races being held on the M3 and N7 just outside Dublin.

A group of Irish followers also featured in a race that was held on a public road in the UK.

The Sunday World revealed this week how people with connections to serious organised crime gangs dominate the illegal road races both here and in the UK.

Thousands of euros are believed to be gambled on the races and trotting ponies change hands for thousands of euro as well.

A bid by independent TD Mattie McGrath in 2018 to introduce legislation to ban sulky road-racing was not passed in the Dail.

He previously told the Irish Independent he was threatened he would be shot “by the big boys in Dublin” for introducing the legislation.