LEOPARDSTOWN will consider making changes to its Christmas Festival racing programme in the wake of Horse Racing Ireland’s decision to scrap the Grade 1 two-mile and one-furlong novice chase on St Stephen’s Day.

Tim Husbands, Leopardstown chief executive officer, said: “I think it’s important that we maintain a Grade 1 across each of the four days. We’ll have to go into discussions with all the various stakeholders, with our clerk of the course, with the racing programme team and with our sponsors to see what works best and to try and create the best framework of races that benefits the participants, the trainers and the jockeys too.”

The review will also consider juggling the other Grade 1 races around, most notably the Savills Chase. Overall, jockey and trainer’s feedback on the ground conditions was positive but there were some complaints regarding the freshness of the ground for the three-mile Grade 1 on the 28th, run on the same course as the 27-runner Paddy Power Chase a day previous.

“I think that will be part of the discussion we have, as to how we can have the best ground for the best races,” Husbands said. “I think the very inclement weather caused a one-off situation so we have to take that into account.

“The track team here has worked superbly over the last two months to get us where we needed to be. On the first day, the ground was near perfect and then we obviously had the deluges but certainly the feedback we got from the trainers was that they were satisfied with the ground conditions and how we were able to maintain them throughout.”

A total of 62,049 attended over the four days at Leopardstown, which was an increase of 2.5% on last year’s total. Hospitality at the track is sold out for the Dublin Racing Festival (February 3rd and 4th) with Husbands reporting that the trend of British interest is likely to increase again.

“We know there is an increased interest from the UK market,” he said. “We work with our partners’ Race & Stay, and their numbers are up. There’s still considerable interest coming in from the UK, it was 28% last year. I think we might see a small increase on that as well. They’ll be two intense days and I think the festival has really confirmed its place on the racing calendar.”

Limerick switch

Limerick Racecourse hasn’t yet finalised attendance numbers for their four-day meeting but general manager Tom Rudd was pleased with how busy the Festival seemed, in particular the third day, which featured the Grade 1 Faugheen Novice Chase, moved from its traditional slot on St Stephen’s Day.

“Moving the Grade 1 to the 28th seemed to work as there was quite a big crowd here,” Rudd said. “Normally we struggle a little on the 28th and 29th but we were happy.”

The Patrickswell venue has launched an ambitious bid to host the World Rally Championship (WRC) next year, and presented to WRC promoters and Motorsport Ireland at the track on Thursday.

If successful, the racecourse would be transformed into a 10,000 square metre service park and international media centre as well as a WRC fan zone for the duration of the competition, which Ireland is expected to host for three years.

More than 250,000 spectators are expected to travel from overseas to Ireland for the event.