Dundalk extend all-weather campaign
Racing will take place at Dundalk every Friday evening between September 23 of this year and March 30, 2012 (except December 30, 2011). Approval has been given by the board of HRI for 14 new fixtures.
There will be one extra date added this year, on December 23, with 13 new meetings to be introduced in the first three months of 2012.
These will be in addition to Dundalk's existing annual allocation of 23 meetings. The costs will be financed by contributions from SIS, the broadcast rights holder for live Irish racing to betting shops, and Dundalk racecourse.
The new Dundalk Friday evening winter series will provide 100 extra races and offer about €900,000 in extra prize money. Dundalk’s normal prize money levels, and the €7,000 minimum value per race will be maintained. .
It is intended that these fixtures will be run for a three year trial period (up to 2014), at which point all of the implications will be reviewed.
As a result of the expansion of Dundalk’s winter programme, separate summer and winter flat seasons and championships will now be created.
For 2011, the main summer flat season/championship will be run from the Curragh’s opening meeting on March 20 to Leopardstown’s November Handicap meeting on November 6.
A separate winter season/championship will then apply for the all-weather track meetings staged at Dundalk over the winter, from November 11, 2011 to March 23, 2012.
Commenting on the introduction of this new series, HRI chief executive Brian Kavanagh, said: “This is good news for the flat racing industry and good news for the betting industry, with additional employment and earning opportunities created in both these sectors. The priority of the HRI Board was to ensure minimum prize money levels were retained and I am grateful to Dundalk and SIS for making that happen.”
Dundalk Stadium Chief Executive, Jim Martin, commented: “We believe that this new series will be well supported by trainers in Ireland and Britain.”
