Horse Racing Ireland

Most key statistics for the Irish Thoroughbred racing and breeding industry showed significant gains when compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019, as the full-year statistics were released by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) on Thursday. In the areas of ownership (+17.1%, 4,757), horses-in-training (10,208, +14.1% on 2019), Tote betting (total Tote betting rose +18.3%), and bloodstock sales (€215.4m, +30.3% on 2019 and +17.8% on 2021), figures are well over 2019's. Owner retention rate is now 72.8%, with the number of syndicates increasing for the fourth consecutive year to 825 (+3.4%...

The winners of the 2022 Irish Thoroughbred Welfare Council Best-Turned-Out League were announced on Friday. Staff from yards of Jim Bolger, Gordon Elliott, James Fahey, Michael Halford, Eoin McCarthy, Michael O'Callaghan and Robert Tyner's were honoured in different categories. The categories are based on the number of runners each yard had during their season. Each yard wins €3,000 to be divided among staff. The winning yards are as follows: Flat Category A: Jim Bolger's yard with 72 best-turned-out horses from 279 runners. Flat Category B: Michael Halford's yard with 85...

Suzanne Eade, chief executive of Horse Racing Ireland, has once again prioritised prize-money in the budget with €68.6m set to be on offer across 390 fixtures in 2023. That represents a 2.5% rise on the pot that was on offer in 2022 while HRI also announced several other key industry supports and a contribution of over €1m to other initiatives on Wednesday. Integrity funding is set to increase to €15.9m (+3%) while the 2023 Budget provides for investment in equine welfare activities and welfare related grant funding of €2.7m, the...

Following the cancellation of Navan on Sunday, Dec. 18, due to frost, this meeting will not be rescheduled. The G2 Tote Navan Novice Hurdle will now be held at Naas next Tuesday, Dec. 20 as an eighth race with original declarations to stand. The NavanRacecourse.ie Rated Novice Steeplechase will now be held at Fairyhouse next Wednesday, Dec. 21 as an eighth race. It will revert back to entries at weights stage and will close for fresh declarations along with the rest of the Fairyhouse Meeting by 10am on Monday, Dec....

A health, safety and well-being guide for the horse breeding and racing sectors, meant as a resource for the industry covering legislation and detailing best practices was launched by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) on Thursday. As the first step towards fostering improvements in health and safety standards in the industry, HRI commissioned Red C Research in Spring 2022 to conduct a survey of a cross section of members of the industry, both online and by interview, to canvas attitudes on the subject. The survey results revealed: • As many as...

Dubai Duty Free will continue their sponsorship of the G1 Irish Derby, as they renewed their partnership with the Curragh, the duo announced on Tuesday. In addition, the prize-money for the Irish Classic will increase from€1 million to €1.25 million in 2023, and five additional races will be sponsored by the airport retailer. For the first time since 2011, the Irish Derby will take place on a Sunday, with 2023's date set to be July 2. The full eight-race card will also become a permanent part of the Hong Kong...

Leading owner J.P. McManus and the recently retired jockey Kevin Manning were among those honoured Monday at the annual Horse Racing Ireland Awards. McManus, who is a 19-time champion National Hunt owner in Ireland, received the Contribution to the Industry Award. He has been associated with many of the top jumps horses for over 40 years with more 4,000 winners, including Mister Donavan (Choral Society {GB}), Jack Of Trumps (Kings Theatre {Ire}) and Deep Gale (Deep Run {GB}). He is a six-time Champion Hurdle-winning owner, two-time Grand National winner with...

Voting for the 2022 Ride of the Year Award is now open until 5 p.m. on Nov. 30, Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) announced. The winner will be revealed at the annual Horse Racing Ireland Awards on Dec. 5. Selected by jockey Davy Russell and Fran Berry, the nominees are as follows: Jordan Gainford - Wall of Fame - Fairyhouse Easter Early Bird H. Hurdle - Fairyhouse, Jan. 9. Siobhan Rutledge - Atavique - BoyleSports Irish EBF Ulster Oaks Fillies H. - Down Royal, June 18 Mark Walsh - A Great...

Equuip and Irish Injured Jockeys have partnered to develop a financial literary course for all professional jockeys, including conditionals and apprentices, which is free to attend. It will offer practical advice and tools to help guide jockeys on all financial matters, how to make better money decisions, learn about personal finance, financial concepts, and financial planning. The course is divided into three modules-an online tutorial, an in-person workshop with Gateway Financial Consultants, and one-on-one mentoring with Gateway Financial Consultants. All professional jockeys can register for the course on Equuip's website....

The 2023 fixture list, featuring the same number of fixtures as 2022 with 390, was revealed by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) on Tuesday. Three of those fixtures will be floating fixtures, to be assigned as needed. Next year, Navan racecourse (Nov. 18, 19) and Punchestown (Nov. 25, 26) will host high-class weekends of NH racing ahead of the traditional Winter Festival at Fairyhouse (Dec. 2, 3).  A new two-day fixture will be introduced at Naas on the weekend of Oct. 14 and 15 and a two-day all-Flat fixture at Leopardstown...

A booklet, titled Principles of Animal Welfare in Ireland's Horse Racing Industry, was launched by Horse Racing Ireland on Friday. Created with input from people who work in a variety of roles in the horse racing and breeding industries in a co-design process, the booklet's objective was to put current best-practice science into language, principles and criteria which are real and coherent with four principles detailed as underpinning equine welfare in Ireland--Good Feeding, Good Housing, Good Health, and Good Well-being. John Osborne, HRI's Director of Equine Welfare and Bloodstock, said,...

The Irish EBF Barrier Trials will return to Dundalk Stadium on July 5 and Aug. 30, Horse Racing Ireland announced. They will be restricted to unraced 2-year-olds and 3-year-olds over distances of five furlongs, six furlongs, and seven furlongs, with horses named, returned to training and with a stalls certificate. Irish Thoroughbred Marketing has conducted the trials with the cooperation of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board and the Irish European Breeders' Fund since 2018. IRIS will be on hand to record the trials and broadcast them live on YouTube, while...