HRI announces biggest ever number of meetings in 2022 fixture list

Horse Racing Ireland has announced its highest ever number of fixtures for 2022, with the return of mixed cards confirmed for the Galway festival.

There will be at least 390 meetings – up ten from the figure announced last year – including three 'floating fixtures', meetings kept in reserve to be programmed at short notice when demand for opportunities to run is very high.

Turf fixtures will rise to 346 (from 339) and all-weather fixtures are set to increase to 44 (from 41), with the total number of meetings up 54 from a decade ago.

Although the number of scheduled mixed meetings is reduced to 11 from 17 in 2021, each day of the Galway festival will be run with a combination of Flat and jumps contests, as will the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of the Listowel festival and Tipperary's Super Sunday card in October.

HRI director of racing Jason Morris: 'We continue to see strong growth in our horse population numbers'Credit: Patrick McCann

HRI director of racing Jason Morris said: "We continue to see strong growth in our horse population numbers, up 19 per cent year-on-year, and average field-size figures, up from 11.8 to 12.3 runners per race, and this is reflected in the increased fixture list that we are announcing for 2022.

"By retaining three meetings to be allocated at short notice during next year, we can retain flexibility to respond quickly to the demands of the horse population as they materialise in 2022."

An additional fixture on the Friday before the Irish Guineas meeting has been added to create a three-day festival, while the opening of the 2022 Flat turf season will have a higher-profile launch through Saturday and Sunday cards at Naas and the Curragh on March 26 and 27.

Blank Sundays, seen by stable staff as a welcome break from racecourse action, remained at the same level with six dates (April 24, June 19, July 24, August 28, September 4 and October 9), while Saturday evening meetings have been reduced to three from four.

Limerick's JT McNamara Munster National Handicap Chase has a new later spot in 2022, moved back two weeks to October 23 "to provide the ideal calendar location between the Kerry National at Listowel on September 21 and the Troytown Handicap Chase at Navan on November 27", according to HRI.

Changes have also been made to Dundalk's scheduling, with the winter finals meeting at Ireland's sole all-weather venue now set to be held on March 25.

There will also be four Wednesday afternoon fixtures at the Louth venue in January and February, two of the dates being new fixtures and two relocated meetings from April and May.

This comes after the late addition of equivalent fixtures to the 2021 programme, which HRI said "proved beneficial in addressing the strong demand for opportunities over the winter".

Click here to view the full 2022 fixture list revealed by Horse Racing Ireland

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