Dundalk winter programme published Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) have published the provisional race programmes for the 19 fixtures which will comprise the 2011/12 Winter Flat Season at Dundalk. The Winter Flat Season will commence at the north-eastern polytrack on Friday November 11 and, with the exception of December 30, fixtures will be staged every Friday evening through to the culmination of the season on March 23, 2012. The main 2012 Flat Summer Season will then start at the Curragh on Sunday March 25. The new Winter Flat Season will mean an annual 10% rise in the number of races for the flat horse population, offering additional employment and earnings opportunities for owners, jockeys, trainers and stable staff. It will also allow betting shops to open in Ireland on the most popular betting evening of the week throughout the winter as sought by the Irish Bookmakers Association, thereby securing employment within the betting industry and producing extra revenue for the government from the additional betting duty generated by these new meetings. Key features of the race programme for the new Winter Flat Season are: 1. There will be 133 races offering a total of €1,285,000 in prize money, which has been retained at the standard level for races at a Category 2 racecourse. 2. The handicaps scheduled before Christmas will offer opportunities for better class horses but in the New Year they will be targeted at horses below the top tier (i.e. rated less than 90). 3. Most handicaps will have limited weight ranges of approximately 20lbs to ensure sufficient opportunities for horses across the ratings bands. 4. There will be no adjustment to the current balloting arrangements so random ballots will continue to apply only in handicaps with a top rating of 65 or less. 5. There will be flexibility in relation to dividing races or even adding eighth races at short notice depending upon the requirements of the horse population. 6. There will be a series of seven claiming races in the January to March period to stimulate the potential sale of horses – two of the races will be optional claiming maidens where horses will receive a weight allowance if entered to be claimed. 7. The claiming race procedures will be amended so that there will now be a fixed claiming price (rather than the current system where the highest claim wins) with a random draw if more than one claim is submitted for a horse. 8. In addition to the current on-track mechanism for claiming horses via bank drafts, owners and trainers with HRI accounts will be able to submit claims over the telephone to HRI after the race. (Full details of the changes to claiming race procedures will be published by the Turf Club in due course). HRI Director of Racing Jason Morris added: “HRI is announcing the race programme for the Winter Flat Season at this early juncture so as to alert owners and trainers to the new opportunities and prize money that will be available at Dundalk. “There has been significant consultation with the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association in terms of the appropriate races to be programmed and we are confident that the resulting schedule will showcase good quality and competitive Irish Flat racing throughout the winter.” Details of the 133 races are available on HRI’s Racing Administration Service website info.hri-racing.ie.
