Ten new meetings planned

Up to ten new race meetings are being planned in Ireland to compensate for the loss of fixtures due to the recent bad weather.

The first of these could take place at the end of February with the remainder stretching into April.

The initiative is being taken by the Turf Club in conjunction with the Irish Horseracing Authority and the Association of Irish Racecourses because of concerns that 10 race meetings have been lost to the weather since St Stephen's Day.

"The aim is to provide opportunities for the maximum number of horses that were denied chances to run. Feature races are unlikely because of clashes with other feature races but we envisage running maiden hurdles, bumpers and low grade handicaps," the Turf Club Chief Executive, Cahir O'Sullivan, said yesterday.

O'Sullivan added: "In an ideal world we will be able to run all 10 meetings but there are only about 12 courses in the country that can take winter racing and it is not easy to find a course that can take an extra meeting and then possibly penalise itself later on. Nevertheless, we have had a positive response from the racecourses who are all anxious to help."