O’Carroll Haulage and Crane Hire the Irish rental firm has used a modular spreader frame in order to lift two famous bronze statues and move them into temporary storage while major construction work was carried out at Curragh Racecourse, which can be found in the Curragh plain in County Kildare, Ireland.

The Limerick-based O’Carroll has made use of the Modulift CMOD modular spreader frame and the supporting rigging gear below the hook of a 100t Palfinger PK 10002 Performance loader crane mounted articulated truck. During the operation, both of the statues were both lifted, one at a time, onto a vehicle before being secured and then moved to an on-site storage area around 500m away, before being unloaded.

The main contractor for the work was John Sisk & Son Limited. The contractor presented the haulage company, O’Carroll with a challenging scope of work to temporarily relocate the two heavy statues, weighing 6.7t and 4.5t. The move took place in order to help to protect them with a covering while the construction work was being carried out at the racecourse. The two bronze statues are thought to be of great historical importance to the racecourse and it was essential that they were protected while the work was carried out.

The larger of the two statues feature a jockey and commemorates Vintage Crop, the British-bred and Irish trained thoroughbred racehorse who was the first overseas runner to win the Melbourne cup. The lighter of the statues is Nijinsky, the Canadian-bred, Irish trained thoroughbred and sire. Both of the statues needed to be moved with their concrete foundations, adding to the challenge.

The statues have been moved for the time being from the racecourse’s parade ring which will be transformed as a part of this new development. The new Curragh will also will ensure that more patrons can share in excitement and build up to the races as well as see the creation of world-class facilities that, when completed, will be on par with other locations around the world.