IT has been a very strange year. Our first meeting was Monday, July 20th when we should have started in April – this threw our season into disarray. Marketing, sponsorship and development all came to a stand still and we had to refocus, regroup and restart. Unfortunately, we had to lay off a number of our staff temporarily, but they recommenced work again in June to prepare for our rescheduled season.

“One of the biggest challenges for our initial meeting was the new and strict protocols. From the outset Horse Racing Ireland and the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board were very supportive and have implemented a rigorous set of protocols to enable Irish racing to continue. We were apprehensive at the start but everything went very smoothly.