No opportunities: Irish trainers fear all-weather horses will be lost to Britain

Irish trainers have expressed fears that they may lose horses to Britain and owners could exit their yards over the ongoing balloting issue at Dundalk, with frustration mounting over a lack of opportunities to run at Ireland's only all-weather venue this winter.

An eight-race card at the track can accommodate 112 runners, but the course's last three meetings for 2020 have attracted 343, 303 and 342 entries, while a single low-grade handicap at this Friday's fixture attracted 127 horses alone.

The Restricted Trainers Association, which represents handlers in Ireland with four or fewer horses, wrote to Horse Racing Ireland earlier this week requesting more races and fixtures at Dundalk, with an increased 11 meetings in November dropping to five for this month, with four in both January and February and five fixtures in March.