WE are now two weeks into a mammoth 10-week period of no fixtures in the northern region. The last meeting in the region was the North Down fixture at Kirkistown on November 19th and the next is the East Down meeting in Tyrella on January 28th.

The region’s handlers are now used to venturing south at this time of the year in order to run their horses.

Mark O’Hare features among the entries for Ballindenisk, Colin McKeever, Gerald Quinn, Karen McNeilly, David Christie and Sean McParlan could potentially feature at Corbeagh House, while O’Hare, Christie, McNeilly and Caroline McCaldin could also send horses to Co Clare for the Quakerstown fixture.

Frustration

An extended period in the region without any racing is nothing new, but the addition of an extra northern fixture into their already congested early autumn schedule has to be a frustration for handlers in the area.

The opening eight Saturdays of the season featured racing in the region on seven of them, the only blank date being created by the Grade 1 Ladbrokes Champion Chase taking place at Down Royal on Saturday, November 5th.

The addition of Necarne into this congested period on November 12th is questionable when the fixture only then generated 54 entries and 30 runners across the six races.

Such a crowded schedule there is difficult to understand when it comes ahead of a 10-week gap and, with entry numbers contracting in many cases for the region’s early fixtures, a more balanced schedule that spread out the northern autumn dates to take advantage of these blank Saturdays would have to be more beneficial to all concerned if land was available.