Irish racing will return behind closed doors, with strict new protocols in place, at Naas on June 8. The revised fixture list for July features 47 meetings, three more than in the original schedule.

In recognition of the increased workload, there will now be three days (up from two) on which no racing will take place throughout the month.

Jason Morris, Horse Racing Ireland’s director of racing, said: “We recognise that there will be a large demand for opportunities to run and our aim is to provide all flat horses with their first run as quickly as possible following the resumption of racing by offering a balanced programme across all age groups, distances and categories. There will be 53 flat meetings up to the end of July with this objective in mind. There will also be 22 National Hunt fixtures programmed between 22 June and the end of July, compared to the equivalent of 17 meetings in the same period last year, to cater for the demands of the jumps horse population.

“There will be eight-race cards run at every opportunity where stable capacity allows, with the protocols requiring one stable per horse for hygiene reasons.”

Galway changes

The Galway festival (27 July to 2 August) is being maintained as a seven-day event, but there are significant changes to the traditional race programme. The opening two days will host flat races only, while the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday fixtures will be all National Hunt. The meeting will conclude with two all-flat cards. The Galway Plate and Galway Hurdle will be run on the Wednesday and Thursday as normal.

The number of race days at Killarney in July has been reduced from five to three which will be stand-alone fixtures on Tuesday 7 July, Monday 13 July and Wednesday 15 July. The two lost days will be rescheduled later in the year.

Racing resumes at Cork Racecourse, which will host four fixtures, with an all-flat card on Sunday 5 July. Bellewstown will stage three non-consecutive days in July, while two extra fixtures will be held at the Curragh on Friday 10 July and Sunday 26 July – the latter featuring the Tattersalls Gold Cup.