It’s all systems go at the three Irish racecourses which will be open on St Stephen’s Day despite the high winds and heavy rain that have buffeted the country.
Storm Barbara has dumped inches of rain across parts of Ireland and left some homes without power, but Leopardstown, Limerick and Down Royal are all ready to open their doors on December 26.
Leopardstown and Limerick host four-day festivals, starting tomorrow, with one day of racing at Down Royal.
“The weather hasn’t been as bad as we had been preparing for,” said Pat Keogh, chief executive of the Dublin course. “We have no issues – the forecast for the four days is actually quite good.”
Down Royal General Manager Mike Todd added: “We had six millimetres of rain on Thursday, two more are forecast for Friday and four and-a-half on Sunday so we don’t see there being any issues.
“We are expecting a huge crowd, around 6,500, for what is our second biggest meeting of the year.”
The west coast of Ireland has seen the worst of the weather, but Limerick racecourse has been relatively unaffected.
“The storm didn’t materialise in the way we expected,” said course general manager Conor O’Neill. “These things can change, but at the moment the forecast for the four days are as good as we have ever had at this time of year.
“There’s been huge interest in the meeting and we’re hoping that it’s the biggest festival we’ve had here since we started.”
The big race in Leopardstown on Monday is the Racing Post Novice Chase at 2.20 and at 2.0 in Limerick the prestigious Shannon Airport Novice Chase goes to post.
Watch live coverage of Day One from Leopardstown on RTE2 from 12:50pm to 3:10pm on St Stephen's Day
Listen to live coverage from Leopardstown and Limerick and on the King George at Kempton Park on RTÉ Radio 1 from 1.0pm on St Stephen's Day
