THERE are two meetings in Ireland tomorrow and while the cards are quite similar, there are few double entries between Tinahely and Aghabullogue. The action is due to commence at 12.30pm at both venues.

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed will be among those attending the Muskerry Foxhounds’ fixture at Aghabullogue where he will be guided through all aspects of point-to-pointing by Frankie Ward. The Fine Gael TD, who represents Cork North West, gave the sport a boost when announcing extra funding of €728,000 for this year, bringing the total expenditure up to €2.2m.

While much of the spend on items such as integrity services and medical cover will not be obvious to racegoers, the grants to hunts staging point-to-points have increased by €2,000 to €6,500 per meeting and the minimum prize-money for races other than four-year-old and five-year-old maidens has increased from €800 to €1,200 per race. Last season’s fixture was cancelled because of the weather so the organisers will be hoping for a large crowd tomorrow.