Horse Racing Ireland’s four racetracks are available to the government if needed in fighting the coronavirus pandemic. The HRI boss also commented that there will be serious commercial consequences for tracks even if racing should eventually resume in some form behind closed doors again. Ten meetings were run behind closed doors here prior to last week’s shutdown of the sport. “Running a Fairyhouse Grand National meeting or a Punchestown festival behind closed doors is not a commercial prospect for a racecourse,” he said. Details of revenue generated from the ten fixtures run in Ireland behind closed door before last week’s shutdown have yet to be fully established according to Kavanagh.

Source: The Irish Times March 29, 2020 14:03 UTC