Extra fixtures for Irish racing

Ireland will stage an extra eight fixtures next year to take the overall figure to 313.

The 2005 fixture list, released today by Horse Racing Ireland, shows extra meetings at Ballinrobe, Bellewstown (two), the Curragh, Fairyhouse, Gowran Park, Killarney, Naas, Sligo, Tipperary and Wexford.

Two racecourses losing fixtures at their own request for track maintenance are Down Royal (two) and Punchestown.

The HRI board has decided to boost the first part of the Flat season, when some 30 extra races will be staged, including new meetings at Gowran and Naas in April.

A second objective was to build on improvements to the winter jumping programme already made by enhancing the pre-Christmas period. As a result there will be three extra fixtures in November and December.

The Fairyhouse Easter Festival will be run earlier than normal, on Sunday, March 27, to Tuesday, March 29.

There will then be a four-week gap to the Punchestown Festival (April 26-29), with Galway scheduled for July 25-30.

The Flat season will start at the Curragh on Sunday, March 20, and end at Leopardstown on Sunday, November 6,.

There are 10 Saturday evening fixtures scheduled on nine dates in 2005, and the board has agreed that for any Saturday evening date to be retained, it must achieve an average attendance of 5,000.

As a consequence, a number of racecourses have either had Saturday evenings removed (Cork, Limerick and Wexford) or have not been granted dates they requested.

Saturday evening fixtures will be staged for the first time at Fairyhouse, Naas, Punchestown and Tramore.

HRI’s director of racing Jason Morris said: “Horse Racing Ireland’s aim is to put on racing at the times and places which will suit racegoers and consequently grow attendances throughout the year.

“We believe Saturday evening racing, well-positioned and promoted, will produce significant gains for racegoers and racecourses alike.”