The following update was emailed to members recently.
As we write to you today, the 2020 season should be heading into its eight week of its commencement of the 2020 season, but unfortunately like all other recreational and sporting the events in the country, the Irish Harness racing calendar has fallen foul to the Covid-19 restrictions, currently in place by the HSE. Given the current situation, the IHRA are doing whatever can be done to look after our employees and our stakeholders. We also realize the predicament for our owners and trainers that race at our tracks and the anxiety of not knowing what the near future might hold. It is in this spirit that we try to shed a little light on what may be possible.
The IHRA board of directors, along with its committee members have been tirelessly convening over the past number of weeks to discuss the situation and as many of you are aware, the season opening has been postponed until Sunday 10th of May, should the current restrictions be lifted in any way for the sporting events in the country. The IHRA intends to race behind closed doors for the first four weeks of racing in Portmarnock as intensive safety and security measures will have to be put in place. This will allow the IHRA to primarily begin our season and will secondly be the associations effort to cease the spread of this extreme and in some cases fatal virus. The committees are working on a contingency plan in the event of running behind closed doors and all stakeholders will receive a copy of this document once finalised. The IHRA are currently planning and designing a new streaming service of all our races so that all regular attendees at our race meetings can watch all the action from the comfort and safety of their own home. The sub-committee working on this project are hopeful that project will come to fruition and details of this service will be published should it be financially viable for the association to do so.
Our fixtures have suffered already with the first eleven meetings at Portmarnock, Annaghmore & Cork abandoned. The annual Inchydoney beach races has been cancelled, whilst the Red John Memorial in Lyre on June 13th & 14th is now rescheduled for August 29th & 30th. Should the restrictions be extended after 5th of May, the IHRA racecourse committee will review all other future dates and make amendments where necessary.
Finally, the IHRA have submitted a document to the Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine, on their request regarding Emergency funding as a direct result to the ongoing restrictions and their impact on the Irish Harness Racing sector. To conclude this update, the IHRA board of directors, its committee’s and employees would like to reiterate in no uncertain terms that we are working to getting tracks open but only when its safe to do so. Owners and trainers need to race, and we would like to race too, but for now we must adhere to the guidelines set forth by the HSE.
To keep updated, please refer to www.irishharnessracing.com or our dedicated social media platforms of Facebook, Instagram or Twitter accounts for all related news on this matter.
