THE Curragh will present a new face to its customers when it hosts its first fixture of the year on April 6th.

A total of £1.25 million has been spent on car parks, a new entrance building, a new saddling enclosure and a new pre parade ring area under phase one of the £4.2 million racing's headquarters will spend over the next five years.

"Basically, we want the Curragh to be a more pleasant place to come to," said the track chairman, Philip Myerscough, yesterday.

"The new saddling boxes will I'm sure be very popular. The old ones were cramped and dangerous and basically kept the owners and trainers away from the public.

"Our first objective was to create a sense of arrival on the course. The old stiles on the road were a bit embarrassing compared to the likes of Newmarket and York but the new entrance building is a bright and open unit with a large through flow of customers, Myerscough added.

The Curragh will host 19 meetings this year with a prizemoney total of £3.9 million, £500,000 up on last season. The Derby, on June 29th, is the most valuable race and Ireland's most prestigious contest is projected to have a pot of £700,000.

The Curragh manager Brian Kavanagh said that close on 80 per cent of the races run at the course will be sponsored by the end of the season. The most significant sponsorship development so far is that Lexus will sponsor the Irish 2,000 Guineas on Sunday, May 25th.

The Airlie Coolmore Irish 1,000 Guineas will be run the day before but another switch is that the Jefferson Smurfit Irish St Leger will be run this season on Saturday, September 20th while the Aga Khan's National Stakes takes place the day after.

The closing fixture of the year is set to be on October 31st which the executive hope will be a free admission day.

"The key to all our developments has been constant research into our racegoers needs," said Kavanagh.

Phase two will begin next winter with the development of the West End stand, which attracts a significant crowd on Derby day, with new catering facilities and bars.

. Trainer Tom Taaffe has won his appeal against the decision of the acting stewards at Fairyhouse on February 23rd. Following the running of the Tolka River Maiden, Taaffe was fined £500 for using the racecourse as a training ground in respect of his runner Private Sector and the horse was suspended for 30 days.