Three behind closed doors July dates for Bellewstown races

Three one-day race meetings at Bellewstown in July will see plenty of action in the Royal County as Navan (two) and Fairyhouse are also set to host flat cards.

Horse Racing Ireland released a revised fixture list for July today that features 47 meetings and there will now be three days on which no racing takes place during the month.

Behind closed doors action will take place at Bellewstown on 2nd, 4th and 8th July; Navan on 3rd and 9th July and Fairyhouse on 5th July.

“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," said HRI Director of Racing Jason Morris.

"There will be 53 flat meetings up to the end of July with this objective in mind and 22 national hunt fixtures programmed between 22nd June and the end of July, compared to the equivalent of 17 meetings in the same period last year.

“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,” he added.

The Galway festival 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, in the first two days of August, with two all-flat cards.

The Galway Plate and Galway Hurdle will be run on the Wednesday and Thursday as normal.

The number of racedays at Killarney in July has been reduced from five to three which will be stand-alone fixtures on Tuesday 7th July, Monday 13th July and Wednesday 15th July.