RACING:A LITTLE piece of history will be made at Dundalk on Wednesday when it hosts a meeting featuring 48-hour declarations.

Horse Racing Ireland announced the move yesterday on the back of approaches from the television station Attheraces and French racing’s ruling body, France Galop.

Instead of final declarations being made for the meeting the day before, they will instead be made for at 10am on Monday.

HRI are taking the step to evaluate the impact of international betting turnover, much of which is co-mingled back into Tote Ireland pools. It will provide a direct comparison with last Wednesday’s Dundalk fixture.

HRI’s director of racing Jason Morris said yesterday: “I would stress that this is a one-off trial at Dundalk next Wednesday to allow us to evaluate the impact on international betting turnover, particularly from France, of 48-hour declarations as compared to 24-hour declarations.

“The trial next Wednesday will allow all parties to evaluate the effect that this has on turnover.”