Horse Racing Ireland have 48 new dates to make up for some of the cancelled meetings due to the coronavirus pandemic. RTE Sport are reporting that the flat season will be extended by one week, while five further meetings at Dundalk in November are just some changes announced.
Horse Racing Ireland the fixtures for June and July last month, but have added a further 39 in the last 5 months of 2020. The total number of fixtures for the year according to RTE is 331 compared to 370 the previous year. September and October will be busy months seen an extra 10 and 11 meetings respectively. Three all weather meetings will take place once the flat season comes to and end. These will take place Monday, Wednesday and Friday in November.
Director of Horse Racing Ireland, Jason Morris said, “We have worked closely with all racecourses to develop a fixture list for the remainder of 2020 which is appropriate for both the horse population and each individual track, and we are very grateful for the excellent co-operation received from racecourse managers”. He continued, “We have spread the additional opportunities throughout the year and over both codes to reflect the meetings that were lost over the March to June period”.
Mr Morris said there is still some doubts over Laytown and Listowel festivals. He said,”The meeting at Laytown on 1 September will be kept under review to determine, based on the government guidance that will apply at the time, whether it is possible to implement the necessary protocols at the beach venue”. In regards to Listowel he said, “Depending upon social distancing requirements and potential crowd limitations in late September, Listowel could host mixed cards on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of their seven-day Festival”.
