Irish Lincolnshire weights unveiled

The Tote Irish Lincolnshire kicks off the Irish Flat racing season at the Curragh on Sunday 20th March with the County Kildare venue staging the first of their 19 race days.

The weights for the race are topped by last year’s winner Onenightidreamed for Tommy Stack, who has trained the winner on four occasions.

British trainers are well-represented with Richard Fahy responsible for three entries. Ralph Beckett, Karl Burke, Declan Carroll, Stan Moore and Julie Camacho have also made entries for the €100,000 event.

Of the home trainers, Jim Bolger has the strongest entry numerically with four, headed by the 99-rated Parish Boy.

The support programme on the opening day includes the Group 3 Lodge Park Stud Park Express Stakes and historic Madrid Handicap sponsored by Plusvital, while the Tally Ho Stud EBF Two-Year-Old Maiden will be the first of the seven race programme at 2.10pm.

The Irish Lincolnshire will be sponsored by Tote Ireland for the second consecutive year along with the other Premier Handicaps at the Curragh - the Rockingham, Irish Cambridgeshire and the Irish Cesarewitch.

The Flat season will be previewed throughout the day by presenters Robbie Irwin and Thom Malone who will be joined by Pat Brennan from Tote Ireland and will feature interviews with the top trainers and jockeys as they look ahead to the major races for this year.

Tim Higgins, CEO of Tote Ireland, said: “Tote Ireland is delighted to again be associated with some of Ireland’s most historic and prestigious handicaps at the Curragh. We are excited about what promises to be a great Flat season ahead and we look forward to a great day at the Curragh on Sunday 20th March.”

Evan Arkwright, Commercial Manager of the Curragh Racecourse, commented: “We have an exciting line-up planned to really enhance the start of our season and being part of the St Patricks Festival has really helped us to elevate the day in order to attract people who are visiting Ireland for the weekend including the many Scottish rugby supporters who will be in Dublin for the game.”