2014 Fixture List announced Horse Racing Ireland has announced the Fixture list for 2014 and the most significant change is a new 'Irish Champions Weekend' which has been created in September. The Champions weekend will take place on Saturday the 13th and Sunday 14th of September, with racing at Leopardstown on the Saturday and the Curragh on the Sunday. Brian Kavanagh CEO of HRI said: “I am pleased that HRI has been able to create the inaugural Irish Champions Weekend in September 2014. "It is planned that Irish Champions Weekend will host at least ten Group races, including up to five Group 1 contests, along with several valuable Premier Handicaps. These two meetings will be promoted and marketed jointly, with the ambition of attracting a major international audience to Ireland. "Irish Champions Weekend also opens up the opportunity for a new, exciting Tri-Nation series of Autumn Championships linking the top three racing nations of Europe, starting with Ireland’s weekend, followed by the Arc weekend in France and culminating with the British Champions Weekend of racing in October.” The overall number of fixtures next year will remain the same for the third year in a row with 349 meetings. As Easter at Fairyhouse and the Punchestown Festival fall just a week apart, the third day (Tuesday) of the Fairyhouse Easter Festival has been moved two weeks earlier to Sunday 6th April to create a very high class card featuring five Pattern races which would otherwise have directly clashed with Punchestown contests. A new, higher profile climax to the flat ‘summer’ season has been created – it will now conclude with a good quality two-day meeting at Leopardstown on Saturday/ Sunday 25th/26th October, avoiding a direct clash with the Breeders Cup. The Killarney August Festival has been moved a week earlier (20th – 23rd August) at the racecourse’s request in order to coincide with the Rose of Tralee Festival. There will now be four Wednesday evening Dundalk fixtures, in addition to the regular Fridays evenings, in the November/December period, giving a second weekly fixture during the time of the year when there is a significant demand for additional opportunities on the AWT.
