National hunt horse racing season is cancelled

THE national hunt season for horse racing in Ireland has come to a premature end.

It was announced by the board of Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) earlier today that all remaining jumps meetings in the 2019/2020 season will no longer take place.

As a result, the 2020 Fairyhouse Easter and Punchestown Festival meetings, hugely popular among punters, will not take place this year but it is hoped that the Irish Grand National, part of the originally scheduled Fairyhouse festival, will be ran later this year in the winter.

“We have stressed throughout that Government and HSE guidelines around fighting Covid-19 must come first and racing will only be able to resume when the Government guidelines permit and when there is adequate medical cover in place to ensure that race meetings can be staged safely. No-one can predict when this point will be reached.” said Nicky Hartery, chairman of the HRI.

“What the board agreed today was a plan to get back racing once those guidelines allow.”