OWNERS and trainers are petitioning Horse Racing Ireland to programme more hurdles races and reduce the number of horses being balloted out of races in recent weeks.

The situation reached a peak this week when 140 horses were declared to run in a low-grade three-mile handicap hurdle at Kilbeggan yesterday. In total, 330 horses were denied a run at that fixture.

John Fitzgerald of the Restricted Trainers Association said: “I am not happy with HRI’s attitude to the problem. Brian Kavanagh tells me he and his team are doing their best but he says “there is no silver bullet”. I find that really frustrating when this issue could be foreseen for some time.”

Fitzgerald points to statistics compiled by HRI which show a sharp rise in the number of horses balloted in the past three years. He says his members are losing owners and wants HRI to put on extra fixtures or at least facilitate more runners.

“Many tracks have reduced safety limits at the moment due to Covid-19 restrictions, which include limiting the use of racecourse stables to one horse per day.

“Surely there are ways around this, such as letting trainers elect to use their own horseboxes at the track, or putting in place a system where runners in earlier races are moved out swiftly and the stables cleaned?”

Michael Grassick, chief executive of the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association, is also lobbying HRI on the stabling restrictions. “I have proposed erecting temportary stables at some tracks for the next couple of months. You could end up allowing an extra 120 runners per week and that would make a big impression.”

The exclusion of horses aged six and older from the limited number of point-to-points being staged at the moment is also a major factor, as highlighted by the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners. Regina Byrne, AIRO manager, said: “We have received numerous calls from owners over the past few weeks expressing their dissatisfaction with the current balloting situation in maiden and handicap hurdles. We have been in constant communication with HRI and the IRTA and were instrumental in getting the rescheduled fixture that took place in Limerick last Monday.

“We recognise that this does not go far enough to alleviate the problem but we are hopeful that point-to-points will be back in the fields in early May, which should take some pressure off the demand for places in these races. We are monitoring the situation very closely and will push for additional fixtures with HRI if needed.”

Jason Morris, HRI’s director of racing, responded: “The problem of the high demand in NH races has been severely exacerbated by an influx of horses, especially six-year-olds and upwards, which have not been able to participate in point-to-points as yet this year. The reinstatement of point-to-points in May would clearly be of huge benefit in relieving some of the pressure on the racetracks.

“HRI has already put on nine extra fixtures this year including five jumps meeting, and a major challenge we face now is the lack of available tracks to take any more additional meetings. We only received two applications for the fixture we added recently on April 19th and discussions with the clerks of the course have underlined that there is virtually no racing surface left beyond catering for the already scheduled meetings.

“The huge efforts of racecourses and their ground staff should be recognised and highly commended because the volume of racing since we resumed last June has been very significant – the number of races is up 29% between July and the end of March compared to the previous year, and it was a very challenging winter with heavy ground, while now many National Hunt racecourses are having to water extensively.”

The current dry spell could in fact ease the balloting problem as the prospect of fast ground will prompt many owners and trainers to put their jump horses out to grass for the summer.

In the meantime, the problem is set to worsen as, with a week of high-class racing at Punchestown ahead, there are no opportunities for low-grade National Hunt horses to run until the Festival ends.