LAUNCH OF 2007 SUMMER RACING SEASON The Irish Summer Flat racing programme was launched today at a reception in Dublin's Four Seasons Hotel, hosted by Horse Racing Ireland and the Curragh and Leopardstown racecourses. Jim Bolger, Michael Halford, Ger Lyons, Aidan O'Brien and Dermot Weld were among the leading trainers present to preview their best prospects for the season. HRI's Chief Executive Brian Kavanagh welcomed the guests and reflected that once again we enter the Summer's top Flat Racing period coming out of another excellent National Hunt Season for Irish Horses, with Sublimity becoming the fourth consecutive Irish-trained winner of the Smurfit Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, while Silver Birch gave Ireland a sixth victory in the last nine renewals of the Aintree Grand National. The 2006 Flat Racing Season provided more big-race successes at home and abroad with Dylan Thomas winning both the Budweiser Irish Derby and the Baileys Irish Champion Stakes, while Miss Beatrix was a worthy winner of the inaugural Shelbourne Hotel Goffs Million Race having earlier landed the Moyglare Stud Stakes. Four of the five Classic races were kept at home, while abroad, George Washington was a brilliant winner of the English 2000 Guineas at Newmarket and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot. Yeats recorded a notable big race double in taking the Ascot Gold Cup and the Goodwood Cup respectively. Alexandrova became the eleventh filly to complete the English-Irish Oaks double as well as adding the Yorkshire Oaks to her impressive tally while trainer Jim Bolger finished off the 2006 season with both the Champion European Two Year Old Colt in Teofilo and the Champion European Two Year Old Filly in Finsceal Beo on his hands. Teofilo was unbeaten in five races, including Group One victories in the National Stakes at the Curragh and the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket while Finsceal Beo landed the Prix Marcel Boussac at Longchamp and the Rockfel Stakes at Newmarket. Highlights of the 2007 racing season at the Curragh include the Boylesports Irish Guineas Festival on May 26th and 27th with the Tattersalls Gold Cup on the 27th boasting record prize money of ?300,000. The Budweiser Irish Derby Festival takes place from June 29th to July 1st, while the Summer Racing Carnival on July 14th and 15th will feature the Darley Irish Oaks, with prize money raised to ?500,000. The Autumn Festival of Racing has been extended to three days, from September 14th to 16th, featuring the Parknasilla Hotel Goffs Million on day one, Ireland´s richest-ever race day. The Irish Field St. Leger features on day two, while Bank of Scotland (Ireland) will become the new title sponsor of the prestigious Group 1 National Stakes on day three of the Autumn Festival. 2007 has seen the beginning of the Curragh's redevelopment programme. Phase one will see the new road completed prior to the Boylesports Irish Guineas Festival. Construction of the new grandstand and hotel is planned for the end of the 2007 racing season, while work on a new Champagne Bar, Weigh Room and extension to the existing parade ring will begin in July 2007 with completion due in time for the 2008 racing season. It is hoped that the full complex will be completed by the spring of 2009. Racing will continue as usual throughout all phases of the project The Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial on May 13th opens the Flat Season at Leopardstown and should provide a major pointer to the key Group 1 races for the remainder of the season. The Miller Race Evenings of six Wednesdays and one Saturday get underway on May 30th. These evenings continue to grow in popularity and Leopardstown anticipates record crowds this year. Champion Stakes Day in September will again be the highlight of Leopardstown's Flat Season with the race itself maintaining its position as one of the top-rated races worldwide. A strong supporting card includes The Coolmore Fusaichi Pegasus Matron Stakes (Group 1). Leopardstown has completed the first phase of its re-development, which included the stable yard, a new car park at Carrickmines for 2,000 cars, access road off the M50, new reservoir and new golf course facilities. The design team has completed work on the overall re-development of the grandstands and ancillary areas and the building works will be scheduled to dove-tail with the Curragh re-development, ensuring that both tracks are not ?under construction' at the same time. Brian Kavanagh said: 'The period from May to September accounts for over 60% of attendances at Irish race-meetings. The Curragh and Leopardstown both host top-class race programmes, attracting some of the world's finest thoroughbreds to compete for record levels of prize money. We also look forward to the opening of Ireland's first all-weather facility at Dundalk in August. With many of the best horses in the world in training in Ireland, not to mention the best trainers and jockeys, we will once again provide a Summer season of the highest possible quality at our premier tracks.'
