Racing is set to resume under strict protocols and behind closed doors in Ireland on 8 June.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine said last week that racing, as a spectator-free sport, would fall into the third phase of the Government's plan to ease lockdown restrictions, meaning a 29 June restart looked likely.
However, Horse Racing Ireland had been consulting with the Government on the possibility of an earlier return, with chief executive Brian Kavanagh underlining the fact racing was staged without spectators before it shut down in March.
Horse Racing to return behind closed doors with strict protocols from June 8th. Much needed certainty for the sector. @HRIRacing @RacingPost @TheIrishField
— Peter Burke (@peterburkefg) May 15, 2020
Those consultations appear to have paid dividends with Peter Burke, Fine Gael TD for the Longford-Westmeath constituency in the Dáil, announcing the resumption of the sport would now fall in the second phase of the plan.
He tweeted: "Horse Racing to return behind closed doors with strict protocols from June 8th. Much needed certainty for the sector."
Prior to racing being suspended in March, a total of 10 fixtures were held behind closed doors, the last of them at Clonmel on 24 March.
Horse Racing Ireland chief executive Brian Kavanagh welcomed the development.
"We are grateful to be one of the sectors permitted to go back to work and acknowledge the responsibility on everybody in racing to ensure the events are run in a safe way," he said.
"We know from our own experience in March when we safely ran ten meetings behind closed doors – and from what is happening in other countries like France, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and America – that racing can be staged safely within the requirements of social distancing.
"With significant input from the IHRB's chief medical officer Dr Jennifer Pugh, we have strengthened the HRI Covid-19 protocols and so, while race fixtures will return in Ireland on June 8, they will be very different from what people will have experienced before."
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar confirmed horse racing can resume behind closed doors from 8 June.
He said the projected resumption "is in alignment with what is happening in the UK and in France".
Mr Varadkar said: "It is an important sector to the economy. There will not be travel to race meetings; this will be about people going to their work.
"There are a lot is jobs in the sector, a lot of income, and we need to be aligned more or less with what is happening in the UK and France."
