THE Irish Horse Racing Regulatory Board has said that it is monitoring the situation with regard to the COVID-19 virus, after the Liscarroll committee announced that their upcoming point-to-point on Sunday March 22nd has been cancelled in response to the outbreak.

The fixture has played host to big crowds in recent years, with the last two editions proving to be particular highlights.

In 2018, the committee had the honour of hosting the President Michael D. Higgins, and 12 months ago it was the turn of the RTÉ cameras to visit the north Cork course, with Mary Kennedy in attendance to film an episode of Nationwide.

Announcing the reasoning behind the cancellation, the committee stated: “The safety of people and the community is our priority. As a volunteer group of organisers, we are sad that all the hard work involved will not result in the great family fun day which people were looking forward to. Thank you everyone for the great support. We promise to come back bigger and stronger next year.”

In response to the cancellation of Liscarroll, the IHRB and INHSC released a joint statement which read: “The Irish National Hunt Steeplechase Committee (INHSC) and the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) would like to affirm that this is the decision of an individual hunt and organising committee and that the INHSC and the IHRB will continue to follow government and HSE guidelines in relation to all other point-to-point fixtures.

“We will continue to monitor the situation going forward and all other point-to-point fixtures are planned to proceed as scheduled.”

Last year’s Liscarroll fixture proved to be a very profitable one for those within the buying and selling of young horses in point-to-points, with the first three finishers in the four-year-old maiden all subsequently realising six-figure prices when coming under the hammer at the Goffs UK Aintree Sale.

The race winner, Papa Tango Charly, topped the sale when bought by Aidan Kennedy for £440,000, with the trio generating a combined sum of £715,000.

Unsurprisingly given the importance of the fixture so close to the boutique sale on April 2nd amid a number of other weather-related cancellations, the date will not remain blank on the Cork and Waterford circuit, with the Duhallow Kanturk committee stepping in to host the fixture at Dromahane.

This replacement fixture will feature each of the six races which had originally been programmed for Liscarroll on the same afternoon.

It will feature alongside Kirkistown and the two-day fixture at Durrow next weekend, as the Galway Blazers fixture at Loughrea that was due to be held on the same weekend, had already been cancelled.

It is important that owners and handlers take note of the change to the closing date for these four fixtures, as the entries will be closing one day early for St. Patrick’s Day.

Owing the bank holiday falling on a Tuesday, entries will close at 12 noon on Monday, March 16th.

The weather has also claimed this afternoon’s fixture at Loughbrickland, with the course waterlogged.

It will now take place on Saturday, April 28th, in a date that came available with the cancellation of the Iveagh fixture due to the ground conditions at Moira.

The Iveagh’s were unable to hold their autumn fixture, so this cancellation will be an undoubted disappointment for them.

The final updates in this latest round of amendments to the fixture list will see two of the United hunt fixtures in May swap dates.

Bartlemy moves forward one week and will now take place on Sunday, May 10th, with Ballindenisk moving the other way and dropping into the original Bartlemy date on Sunday, May 17th.