The redeveloped Curragh will host 19 fixtures next year with a new emphasis to be placed on Friday racing there.
A revamped three-day Guineas festival running from May 24th-26th will host a Group One race on each day with the Tattersalls Gold Cup set to be the feature on the opening Friday.
The three-day Derby festival will run from Thursday to Saturday and the Group One Pretty Polly Stakes will be staged on the Friday.
The Derby will stay on Saturday but will now be the highlight of the final day rather being sandwiched in the middle as has been the case in recent years.
All four of the Curragh’s August festival dates will take place on a Friday evening, including the Group One Phoenix Stakes.
It is part of a significant rejig of the Curragh programme to coincide with the €72 million reconstruction of the Irish racing’s headquarters which will open next year.
This Sunday’s second-leg of ‘Irish Champions Weekend’ will be the final meeting at the Curragh this year.
Inevitably much of Tuesday’s launch of the 2019 list by Horse Racing Ireland centred on the Curragh.
“There is a desire to try something different and look to promote Fridays,” said HRI’s chief executive Brian Kavanagh. “The new facilities will be in operation. There’s a new fixture list with the three-day Guineas festival particularly exciting, and likewise restoring the Derby to the top of the card and having the festival build up to it,” he added.
Other features on next year’s fixture list include five completely blank Sundays during the summer months to help staffing issues within racing. There are 361 fixtures listed in all with Naas continuing to open and close the turf flat season.
Evening meetings
The new Curragh’s first date will be on Saturday, April 13th of next year although a focus on Friday dates will feature later in the season.
It is anticipated that four Friday evening dates in August in particular will be aimed at attracting large crowds along the lines of Leopardstown’s midsummer cards which host a series of concerts after racing.
“An entertainment theme will be very much part of those evening meetings,” said Curragh spokesman Evan Arkwright.
He stressed that precise times and dates for reshuffling some of the Curragh’s major Group One dates have yet to be absolutely finalised.
In relation to the Guineas festival, Arkwright said: “There are no definitive decisions yet but there will be a Group One on each of the three days. We still have to clarify all this but it does look like the Tattersalls will be run on the Friday, the 2,000 on the Saturday and the 1,000 on the Sunday.
“For the Derby festival, the Pretty Polly looks like it will be run on the Friday with probably a 3.40 start time for that card, a bit like the Punchestown festival.
“The Thursday will be an evening card and the Derby will more than likely stay around its current time. But we need to talk to sponsors and RTÉ before we can be 100 per cent sure of that.”
