Limerick Grade 1 renamed to honour Faugheen as changes made to Irish schedule

Faugheen lifted the roof off Limerick's grandstand when landing last year's Grade 1 Matchbook Novice Chase and Horse Racing Ireland has honoured the 12-year-old by renaming the top-level event in his honour.

In a series of changes and enhancements to the winter jumps calendar, HRI revealed a number of one-off opportunities for second-season hurdlers and chasers, who would have missed out on some of the leading novice events during the coronavirus-hit spring schedule.

Two new Listed mares' races have also been added to the calendar permanently, with the recently retired Apple's Jade remembered with a 2m5f novice hurdle at Navan in February, while the 1989 Irish Grand National heroine Maid Of Money's name is attached to a new 2m4f mares' chase at the Fairyhouse easter festival.

Apple's Jade: Navan will run a new novice hurdle under he nameCredit: Alain Barr

The changes were primarily targeted at improving the programme for mares over hurdles and fences. HRI director of racing Jason Morris said: "A number of changes, agreed on a one-off basis for 2020, will be implemented during the months of October, November and December to provide additional opportunities in the intermediate, second-season category.

"This is to compensate novice horses who lost out on Grade 1 and Grade 2 races due to the cancellation of the Fairyhouse Easter and Punchestown festivals in the spring, with the 2019-20 National Hunt season coming to an early close when racing was suspended on March 24 due to Covid-19."

He added: "A series of enhanced or in some cases new intermediate races will be run with elevated status in the coming months, and the contests with Grade 2 status will all offer Grade 1 prize-money levels in 2020.

Espoir D'Allen: previous winner of the newly promoted Grade 2 contest at LimerickCredit: Alain Barr (racingpost.com/photos)

"Opportunities will be provided across the spectrum of distances for last season’s novices, including two races restricted to four-year-olds and one event for mares, allowing them to gain further experience against their peers before progressing into open Graded competition."

There are also permanent upgrades for the Listed Kingsfurze Novice Hurdle at Naas (now Grade 3) and Sporting Limerick four-year-old hurdle at Limerick over Christmas (promoted from Grade 3 to Grade 2), while the Fowler Memorial Mares' Chase has been switched from Fairyhouse's easter festival to January.

Full details of the races enhanced in the new winter jumping programme can be found here.

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