Kildare residents restricted, but horse racing continues
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| Curragh Races Schedule. |
The meeting is the Keeneland Phoenix Stakes and is one of four race meetings on the current schedule for August.
"There are runners from at least seven different counties and three different jurisdictions, Ireland, Northern Ireland and the UK," says Gerry O'Donoghue. "These horses have to be accompanied by grooms and handlers from outside the county and outside the country.
"The Taoiseach advised against traveling to Kildare, stopping in Kildare or leaving Kildare. Kilcullen was a ghost town today with everyone doing their best to adhere to the latest advice, yet this is happening just six kilometres up the road.
"I have been a racing fan for 50 years, so this is not an attack on the sport."
The Curragh Racecourse confirmed to the Diary this afternoon that the meeting is taking place, behind closed doors, with no spectators.
"That's because we have such strict protocols to guard against infection," we were told. "Even in the last lockdown, we had race meetings once the protocols were devised and met."
Racing resumed in Ireland under these protocols on 8 June, following representations from Horse Racing Ireland. It had earlier been understood that racing would have to wait until the third phase of the lockdown easing.
Prior to racing being suspended in March, a total of ten fixtures were held behind closed doors, the last of them at Clonmel on 24 March.
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