KILDARE TRACK TO START BALL ROLLING AGAIN
IRISH racing will resume in Naas on Monday, June 8.
The County Kildare track staged the opening meeting of the 2020 flat season back on March 23 (the day before Irish racing closed) and will spark a revised schedule of 28 meetings in June.
The Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas will be run at the Curragh on Friday, June 12, with the 1,000 a day later, while the three-day Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby Festival retains its original slot, June 26-28.
Significantly, jumps action will resume in Limerick on June 22, one of four National Hunt meetings now planned for June, an understandable departure from the earlier plan (in early April) for a month of flat-only action.
June’s other jumps meetings will be staged by Roscommon, Tipperary and Kilbeggan.
A total of ten tracks will be utilised in June, with Cork ruled out of calculations as it is being used as a HSE Covid-19 Test Centre.
The full programme of races for June and the black-type and premier handicap race schedule for the rest of the year, will be published next week.
To facilitate the efficient delivery of the strict screening protocols which will apply to all meetings, 48-hour declarations will be introduced for all meetings in June.
Predictably, tiered prize-money reductions will take immediate effect, with cuts of 10% applying at the lowest level, increasing to reductions of 30% 50% for Group 1 races – the ‘pots’ for both the Irish Derby and Irish Champion Stakes will be cut to €750,000,
Where possible, 8-race cards will be staged in June with safety limits determined on a course by course basis, with a general maximum of 18. HRI has published a 77-page document, outlining the protocols which will apply to all Irish meetings over the coming weeks and months, including confirmation that nobody over 70 years of age will be allowed to go racing.
This means leading trainers Dermot Weld (71, inset), Jim Bolger (78), Kevin Prendergast (87), Ted Walsh (70) and John Oxx (70 on July 14) will be absent.
The Irish fixtures list for June is: