The Longines Irish Champions Weekend, held Sept. 12-13, will take place behind closed doors, the Longines Irish Champions Weekend Committee confirmed on Wednesday. The committee’s recommendation, which was made as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, was approved by the Board of Horse Racing Ireland at their July meeting on Monday, July 20. The Sept. 12 card at Leopardstown features the G1 Irish Champion S., and G1 Coolmore America ‘Justify’ Matron S. The Curragh plays host on the second day, with four Group 1 races on tap: the Comer Group International Irish St Leger, the Goffs Vincent O’Brien National S., the Moyglare Stud S. and the Derrinstown Stud Flying Five S.
“With less than eight weeks to go before Longines Irish Champions Weekend, it was the committee’s view that this was the optimum time to give people certainty,” said HRI Racecourses Chief Executive Paul Dermody. “It is a great shame that our feature weekend of Flat racing will not be enjoyed by racegoers in person this September, but we will ensure a warm welcome for everybody when they return next year. In the meantime, we will be refunding all of those who availed of early-bird and advance ticket offers. We will now focus our attention on providing racing fans with a brilliant at-home experience.”
Added Harry McCalmont, Chairman of the Longines Irish Champions Weekend Committee, “We had dearly hoped that circumstances would allow us have racegoers back on the racecourse for Longines Irish Champions Weekend but that doesn’t look at all likely so it is best to make a call on it now. It is a great pity, but we still have a wonderful weekend of racing to look forward to. The committee would like to take the opportunity to thank the sponsors of all races for their loyalty and we look forward with interest to see the array of horses that will line up at Leopardstown and The Curragh.”
It was also announced on Wednesday that the seven-day Listowel Harvest Festival from Sept. 20-26 would also be conducted without spectators. The Listowel Race Company Committee met on Tuesday evening, and, after consulting with Horse Racing Ireland, decided to hold the festival behind closed doors. The Guinness Kerry National is the featured highlight.
Pat Healy, Chairman of Listowel Race Company, said, “In these unprecedented times, and in line with Government guidelines, the Listowel Race Company has made the extremely difficult decision to race behind closed doors, this means the event will not be open to the general public this year. The health and safety of everyone is our number one priority and with crowd restrictions in place, it would be very difficult for us to run the festival, as it attracts significant numbers of visitors to Listowel each year.”
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