Curragh ready for huge weekend General Manager Paul Hensey is obviously looking forward to the jewel in the crown of the Curragh's 18 race days, 2012 season, the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby Day on Saturday. The Group 1 mile and a half centrepiece is of course staged at the Home Of The Classics and there are 5 other Group One races at HQ during the campaign, one of which, the Barclays Bank Ireland Pretty Polly Stakes will be staged on Sunday. The three day Festival kicks off on Friday evening at 5.30. Hensey explained: "There's fresh ground for the Derby and that hasn't been used since last year's race. "We were going to call the ground good to yielding until we got the 5mm of rain last night. "There's a big band of rain coming in tonight and tomorrow. It's just a question of how much rain we get. The course would have no problem taking 10mms." As regards his hopes for Saturday's 'twilight' programme (first race 3.40) Hensey said: "We'd be hopeful of getting north of 20,000 people here – that would be a good attendance. "There's been a steady drop off in attendance for the Derby Day over the past few years and hopefully this year will buck the trend. "Our special offers and pre-race ticket sales have been going well. The corporate end was sold out even before the Ronan Keating concert was announced. "The concert has helped to give added publicity to the day. "The Derby Day is a major social occasion as well as a sporting event. A lot of the ladies will just have an interest in fashion while the Good Food Ireland Village and the concert after racing will be attractions for others. "We'll have two big screens and probably one of those will be dedicated to the matches on Sunday (Leinster Football Semi-Finals, Kildare V Meath, Dublin and Wexford)." (AM & EM)
