Irish racing to resume on June 8

Irish racing has been given the green light to recommence behind closed doors on Monday June 8, the approval having been given after a meeting of the Irish cabinet on Friday.

The original date for resumption was thought to be June 29, after the roadmap for the ending of lockdown stated that some sports could be restarted behind closed doors on that date, as part of Phase 3 of the ending of Covid-19 restrictions, but in a news conference on Friday afternoon, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar commented: “Horse racing was never specifically mentioned in the plan we agreed back in April but now it is. Horse racing, behind closed doors, will be allowed to continue from June 8 and that’s just taking into account what’s happening in the UK and France.

“This is a big economic sector, a lot of people are employed in it and it’s worth nearly half a billion Euros to the economy each year. Because people won’t be able to travel to race meetings, the amount of movements happening are going to be limited. It’s people travelling to and from their workplace essentially. It won’t be open to spectators for the foreseeable future but it’s a big economic sector with a lot of jobs and income. We need to be more or less aligned with what’s happening in the UK and France in that regard.”

France resumed racing behind closed doors on Monday last and the UK plan to resume on June 1st.

In a press release, Horse Racing Ireland stated that a revised fixture list to the end of June would be published on Sunday, including details of when the Classics will be run. New protocols will be enforced for these meetings. Only key personnel will be allowed attend and anyone in attendance will be subject to advance health screening and temperature screening on arrival. A full list of protocols will be published by HRI on Saturday.