Racing set to take place on Good Friday in Ireland for the first time as 2026 fixture list is published

Racing will take place in Ireland on Good Friday for the first time next year after Horse Racing Ireland published its fixture list for 2026 which features a meeting at the Curragh on April 3, but there will need to be a change in legislation in the interim to allow bookmakers to operate on the day.

The meeting is taken from the Curragh's current fixture allocation, meaning the Irish Guineas meeting will revert to two days, with the Good Friday fixture awarded on a two-year basis. However, betting shops in Ireland are not permitted to open for business on Good Friday under existing legislation.

In 2018 pubs in Ireland were permitted to sell alcohol on Good Friday for the first time since 1927 when the government lifted the ban, while Britain opened up its racecourses on the holiday in 2014 and it now features the culmination of the All-Weather Championships at Newcastle, as well as the All-Weather Vase at Lingfield and a meeting at Chelmsford. Betting shops in Britain have been permitted to open on Good Friday since 2008.

Whether Irish bookmakers can operate on the day will be down to the newly formed Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI), which was put together as a result of the Gambling Regulation Act enacted in October 2024.

Sharon Byrne, chairperson of the Irish Bookmakers' Association (IBA), is hoping that it is an area the GRAI will address in the coming months.

"The IBA welcomes the announcement of a Curragh meeting on Good Friday," said Byrne. "Betting shops are still required to close that day, although pubs have been allowed to open since 2018. 

"The Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland will have the power to modernise opening hours once it begins issuing licences, so this will be something they will consider."

Curragh chief executive Brian Kavanagh said: "We're delighted to get the fixture on a two-year trial basis. Our Guineas Friday wasn't working for us so we've moved that back to a two-day meeting. That fixture switches to Good Friday.

"It'll be a new departure for racing in Ireland and we look forward to making it work. There's plenty of sport on that day and Britain has been racing on Good Friday since 2014. Plenty of Irish horses, jockeys and trainers have raced in Britain on Good Friday, but it's the first fixture in Ireland on that day and we're already planning the details and looking to make it a special occasion."

The total number of fixtures will remain at 391 for the third successive year, with four 'floating' fixtures held in reserve, which will be dictated by demand. There will be seven blank Sundays, one more than in 2025.

HRI's director of racing Jonathan Mullin said: "The Good Friday fixture is a change of policy for Horse Racing Ireland. Once the HRI fixtures committee reaffirmed its view at the outset of the process that this was a priority for 2026, we sought applications from racecourses and several expressed an interest. Ultimately the successful application came from the Curragh, which will include a number of community and industry initiatives as well as a considerable investment in extra prize-money."

The Curragh's Irish Guineas weekend will revert to a two-day meeting in 2026Credit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Allowances have been made for Thurles – which had three meetings cancelled last year due to a particularly dry winter – in the jumps fixture list in order to allow the track to prepare ground appropriately, with one meeting moved from mid-March to late January and two October cards to November and December. 

The future of Thurles, Ireland's only privately owned racecourse under the Molony family, was thrown into uncertainty last month when Riona Molony announced the track was to close with immediate effect, citing a challenging financial landscape and increasing industry demands.

HRI has since announced it will take over stewardship and revealed this week that former Fairyhouse racecourse manager Peter Roe will oversee the management of Thurles as part of his new brief as head of racing for the four HRI racecourses, with Jessica Cahalan of Laytown races set to handle operations for the duration of the agreement from October to March.

Fixtures at Thurles post-March will not be confirmed until the track's future is resolved.

Tipperary has 11 fixtures scheduled from April to October, but some of the meetings will need to be moved once the all-weather project commences development, and provisions have been made for the reallocation of fixtures to other tracks.

"The fixture list for 2026 also sees some movement in fixtures at Thurles to assist with ground management there, as well as concentrating those fixtures in a time of the year when Thurles is seen to its best," said Mullin.

"This was an option we had raised with Thurles in early summer before its announcement to step away from the business, and continued to make sense after the discussions had taken place between the Molony family, HRI and the Association of Irish Racecourses to keep Thurles operational right through this season to March 2026."

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