HRI Board Considers All Weather Racing At its meeting on Monday May 31st, the Board of Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) considered the construction of an all weather track in Ireland. The Board noted the primary conclusion of the report of the Turf Club All Weather Review Group, established to consider issues relating to the safety of staging national hunt racing on an all weather track, that there was 'no surface presently available that would accommodate jump racing'. The Board therefore concluded that all of the ideal conditions set out in the HRI Strategic Plan for the development of an all weather track could not be met for the foreseeable future. In line with the further commitment set out in the Strategic Plan and in view of the current requirements of the horse population, the Board agreed that the merits of a lower cost industry all weather track staging flat racing should now be considered. The Board therefore instructed the HRI executives to fully evaluate the options for such a facility with all interested parties, and agreed that the initial capital costs of the project, its ongoing financial viability, and the ability to stage races over a variety of distances would be the primary considerations in this evaluation. It was further agreed that any such facility should be constructed using the best available surface with a left hand oval circuit of at least 10 furlongs in circumference.
