Horse Racing Ireland

A new subsidy and bursary programme to encourage qualified riders (amateur jockeys) into racing was established by the George Mernagh Memorial Fund (GMMF) on Friday. The programme is open to all riders with the appropriate experience who aspire to become a qualified rider. Horse Racing Ireland's education, training, and people welfare division Equuip will manage both programmes. All aspiring jockeys who take out their qualified riders license will qualify for the GMMF subsidy, as well as a number of bursaries that cover the cost of a licences, helmet and back...

Sunday's meeting at the Curragh, which was cancelled due to waterlogging, will now be held on Sunday, Aug. 13, Horse Racing Ireland announced. The G2 The Minstrel S. will now be contested this Thursday, July 27, at Leopardstown and the race reverts back to entries after final forfeit stage with fresh declarations to be made by 10 a.m. on Tuesday, July 25. The G3 Rathbride Fillies S. will be contested next Saturday at Gowran Park and will close for fresh entries along with the remainder of the Gowran Park meeting...

Horse racing will become part of the annual celebration of American College Football in Ireland featuring a Stars and Stripes themed race night at Leopardstown Racecourse after a three-year partnership was announced between Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) and the Aer Lingus College Football Classic. The 2023 edition of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic game, featuring Notre Dame versus Navy at a sold out Aviva Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 26, is estimated to be worth €147 million to the Irish economy. The Leopardstown race night is one of approximately 50...

Starting in 2024, all 26 Irish Racecourses will have live in-race timing information for all races broadcast on-screen and published online, the Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), Association of Irish Racecourses (AIR), Sports Information Services (SIS) and Racecourse Media Group (RMG) announced on Friday. The feature is part of the recently concluded media rights renewal between the organizations. The system is operated by RMG's timing partners, Coursetrack. Runners will carry lightweight GPS trackers designed to fit within the saddlecloths and transmit data directly to a centralised operation at Racing TV's London...

Cancer Trials Ireland, the national organisation dedicated to advancing cancer clinical trials, will create a new position to anchor expertise in pancreatic research in Ireland with the ambition of creating a global centre for treatment and research for a form of cancer with some of the poorest outcomes--the Pat Smullen Chair in Pancreatic Cancer at University College Dublin. The position will require shared time between clinical work as a treating physician at St Vincent's University Hospital--the national surgical centre for pancreatic cancer--and research work at University College Dublin (UCD). Candidates...

The world's largest globally commingled horse racing pools, created and powered by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, will now include both the Irish and German Derbys for the first time on Sunday, July 2. Germany's richest race, the G1 Deutsches Derby, will mark the inaugural time the World Pool has operated in the country and will also be available two hours later for all eight races on the G1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby Day card from the Curragh. "The various international Derbys carry particular importance in Hong Kong across...

All 26 Irish racecourses have approved the Racecourse Media Group (RMB)/SIS Media Rights deal and have authorised the Association of Irish Racecourses (AIR) to sign the contracts on their behalf, AIR announced on Friday. The deal will begin on Jan. 1, 2024. In May, 21 of the racecourses agreed to the deal, with Kilbeggan, Roscommon, Sligo, Limerick and Thurles Racecourses rejecting it. This week, discussions were held with AIR and the HRI Media Rights Committee, which resulted in the quintet of outliers agreeing to the proposal. Chairman of AIR, Conor...

The Road Safety Authority (RSA), and An Garda Síochána (AGS) have teamed up with Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) and Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) in an effort to inform motorists how to share the roads safely with horses. Drivers are being urged to pass horses "wide and slow" but also others who use the roads. The initiative features a series of videos to help motorists familiarise themselves with best practice when they encounter horses on the road and in areas with high equine traffic, such as around riding schools and racing...

The racing and breeding industry delivered €2.46bn to the Irish economy in 2022, according to a survey undertaken by Deloitte and commissioned by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI). This figure represents a rise of 34% since 2016, while the number of jobs supported by the sector has also increased during that time, by 1,450, to a total of 30,350. Of that total economic impact, €819m is generated by the breeding industry, €264m is spent by owners in the training and running of horses, and a further €193m comes through on- and...

The new media rights arrangements for 21 of the 26 Association of Irish Racecourses (AIR) was unanimously approved by the Board of Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) on Friday. This new agreement is for a period of five years beginning in 2024.The HRI Board welcomed the unanimous approval of the AIR Board for this deal and the authorisation for AIR to conclude contractual arrangements for 21 of its 26 member racecourses. The completion of the sale of the media rights for 21 racecourses as well as HRI's data rights for all...

Goffs and Tattersalls Ireland have committed support of €50,000 each over the next three years toward the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders' Association's National Hunt Fillies Bonus Scheme, the ITBA announced. The support is in addition to the €100,000 from Horse Racing Ireland through the Foal Levy. Established in 2013, the scheme's aim was to enhance the prices of fillies at store sales and encourage breeders to return their fillies in training. The Weatherbys ITBA NH Fillies Bonus scheme pays out €5,000 to any eligible filly who wins their mares-only maiden bumper,...

GAIN The Advantage Series will continue to be supported by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) and GAIN Equine Nutrition for the third consecutive year. Last year's series was won jointly by trainers Pat Martin and Kevin Coleman, who shared an overall league prize of €5,000 worth of GAIN equine products. After two successful years, this year there will be an added race at Tramore Racecourse. The race will be restricted to horses owned by a syndicate or racing club to support and encourage the growth in this area, and like the...