Horse Racing Ireland

The 2022 Irish Thoroughbred Breeders' Association Educational programme is being finalised following the confirmation that Ireland's Department of Agriculture will pledge to support and co-fund the initiative. The programme will run from May to December. The ITBA will partner with the Irish Equine Centre, HRI's Equuip and Weatherbys, among others, to oversee the programme. In addition, the ITBA will work closely with industry experts as well as industry stakeholders to deliver a wide and diverse programme of topics through the four pillars of its educational programme: Ask The Experts, Summer...

Capital development grant aid for two significant projects at Punchestown Racecourse were approved by the Board of Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) on Thursday. The HRI Track Works & Industry Facilities Scheme (2022-2023) will provide €1,194,000--40% of the cost of works--that will see the existing home straight at the track widened by 35 metres and, separately, an extension to the current track layout to create a new one-mile start for Flat races. A new irrigation system at the racecourse is also to be installed and three new reservoirs with the capacity...

Following a request from Roscommon Racecourse, Horse Racing Ireland have transferred the Roscommon meeting originally scheduled for Tuesday, July 5 (evening meeting) to Monday, July 4 (evening meeting). The meeting will now close for entries by 12 noon Wednesday, June 29 with declarations to run to be made by 10am Saturday, July 2. Race programme details will be forthcoming.

The IRE Incentive scheme, an initiative designed to stimulate and fortify Irish Thoroughbred breeding, racing and sales, will expand to include over 200 races in Ireland and Britain in 2022, according to Horse Racing Ireland (HRI). The IRE Incentive scheme awards a bonus of €10,000 to owners of Irish-bred winners of selected races across the Irish and British Flat and National Hunt programmes, to be spent on Irish-breds at Irish sales. In its first year, the IRE Incentive scheme awarded over €1,000,000 to over 90 individual owners, contributing to more...

Roger Casey, a chartered accountant who has been with Tattersalls Ireland for 14 years, will join Horse Racing Ireland as Group Chief Financial Officer, succeeding Suzanne Eade, who has moved into the role of chief executive officer. Casey is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland, a member of the Institute of Directors in Ireland, and brings international commercial experience to the role having worked with Marsh McClennan; KPMG in Toronto and Dublin; and Deloitte in Dublin. Eade said, "I look forward to working with Roger, who brings significant financial expertise...

The number of horses in training and racehorse owners in Ireland rose year-on-year in 2021, and were among numerous positive figures released by Horse Racing Ireland reflecting on the state of the Irish Thoroughbred industry. There were 10,579 horses in training in Ireland last year, which was up 14.4% from 2020 and 18.2% from 2019. Likewise, the owner retention rate of 80.7% up was 9.6% on 2020 and 8% on 2019. There were 1,062 new owners registered in 2021, up 36.1% on 2020. This desire for horse ownership was also...

A survey, focusing on the range of challenges around health, safety and sustainability that employers and key stakeholders face in the racing industry, was launched by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI)'s health and safety division along with the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association (IRTA) and the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders' Association (ITBA). The bespoke online survey, conducted by Red C Research & Marketing, will be anonymous and take 10 minutes to complete. A link to complete the survey will be sent to all industry employers and is also available through equuip's website and...

Prizemoney in Ireland will reach €64.8-million in 2022, an increase from 2021 and second only to 2019 levels. That prizemoney will be paid out over 390 fixtures. Horse Racing Ireland's 2022 budget also includes an increase in funding for the IRE Incentive Scheme, which will pay out €1.3-million in vouchers for Irish-bred horses at Irish sales; the scheme was worth €1.1-million this year. HRI will also increase funding for the point-to-point sector to a record €2.5-million. HRI will increase funds directed to industry education and training to €13.4-million, and approved...

Horse Racing Ireland will increase the minimum and maximum weights allowed for jockeys under both codes. From Feb. 1, the minimum weight will be increased three pounds to 8st 7lb for flat races, four pounds to 10st for National Hunt races and three pounds to 10st 7lb for Qualified Rider races. The changes were decided based upon recommendations from a cross-industry Jockeys Supports Working Group set up by the HRI Programmes Committee. Dr. Jennifer Pugh, the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board's Senior Medical Officer, said, "I very much welcome these changes...

Edited Press Release Simon Harris, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, and Minister for State in Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon were interested observers at the Curragh last week as the racing industry's education and skills cohort showed off their wares. The event was hosted by equuip, Horse Racing Ireland's education and training department, and brought together many elements of the learning community in the racing and breeding industry. Minister Harris and Minster Heydon met students, apprentices and graduates from a host of industry...

Ireland's leading flat jockeys will have a four-week winter break after Horse Racing Ireland restricted three Dundalk meetings in early January to apprentices or jockeys or rode fewer than 20 winners last season. The meetings are Jan. 5, 7 and 14. Jason Morris, Horse Racing Ireland's director of racing, said, "In 2021 HRI extended the break for our leading jump jockeys from 12 to 24 days during June, which was very well received. The changes announced today, which were proposed by the Irish Jockeys' Association, will mean that we will...

A total of 40 nominations have been revealed for the 2021 Horse Racing Ireland Awards, which will be presented in December. Spread across seven categories, the nominees are as follows: Horse of the Year Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}) Minella Indo (Ire) (Beat Hollow {GB}) Chacun Pour Soi (Fr) (Policy Make {Ire}) Flooring Porter (Ire) (Yeats {Ire}) St Mark's Basilica (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}) Snowfall (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) National Hunt Award Henry de Bromhead Willie Mullins Paul Townend Darragh O'Keeffe  National Hunt Achievement Award Dermot...