Doors are slammed on racing
ALL horse racing in Ireland will take place behind closed doors, starting at Dundalk’s all-weather track tonight. The measures put in place by Horse Racing Ireland will continue until March 29, as per the government advice yesterday.
A total of 14 meetings will be affected in the sweep, including the opening Curragh card of the season on March 29, where the feature race is the €100,000 Irish Lincolnshire over a mile.
HRI chief Brian Kavanagh, who has been at the Cheltenham Festival this week, said, ‘It is important that horse racing acts responsibly and plays its part in the efforts to limit the spread of Covid-19.
‘Race meetings will not be open to the public, in line with measures taken by other international racing jurisdictions, such as France, Hong Kong and Dubai.
‘The restrictions which we are announcing today will limit social interaction but will allow a vital rural industry to continue to operate, protecting livelihoods and jobs.’
There was no reference to the practices in place at
Cheltenham where around 250,000 racegoers will have assembled in four days by the finish of the Festival today.
Among the HRI restrictions are the closure of the courses to the public, with recommended social distancing measures to be implemented on track.
Access will be restricted to essential service providers and industry participants.
There will be no catering services, on course bookmakers or Tote services provided.
Also, only one groom per runner declared will be admitted to the racecourse, one owner per runner will be admitted and only trainers of horses running at the meeting will be allowed access.
All participants will be asked to vacate the racecourse after their horses have run.
Pointedly, racing will continue to be made available to broadcasters as at present, so pictures and commentary will be available in betting shops and online.
The Irish Greyhound Board also reacted immediately to the government’s call on Covid-19. From 6.0pm yesterday, all greyhound meetings were held behind closed doors.