Horse Racing Ireland

Jockey Rachael Blackmore will be awarded the 2021 Irish Racing Hero Award at the annual Horse Racing Ireland Awards in December. Blackmore became the first woman to claim the Cheltenham Festival Leading Jockey title with six winners. She found Champion Hurdle success with Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}) on Tuesday, a Triumph Hurdle score with Quilixios (GB) (Maxios {GB}) on Friday and also won races in the middle of the meeting with Bob Olinger (Ire) (Sholokhov {Ire}) and Sir Gerhard (Ire) (Jeremy) on Wednesday and Allaho (Fr) (No Risk At All...

A streamlining of the claiming process for Irish claiming races, to speed up post-race procedures, has been instituted by Horse Racing Ireland and the new regulations will go into effect on Nov. 2. Pre-authorisation on the day of the race will be required for all potential claimants. The claimant's contact details, the name of the designated trainer for the horse they wish to claim, the name of the person responsible for collecting and transporting the claimed horse and the value of the horse they wish to claim should be submitted...

Irish Injured Jockeys has introduced a mental health app called Leafyard that provides tools, activities, and support to help all jockeys with any general mental health concerns. Research commissioned by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board in 2019 and 2020 found that injured jockeys were 46 times more likely to meet the criteria for depression than non-injured jockeys and reported higher levels of dissatisfaction associated with meeting the criteria for distress and generalised anxiety. Ruby Walsh, former champion jockey and chairman of the Irish Injured Jockeys, said, "I suppose I wasn't...

Forty-eight hour declarations, adopted in Ireland from June 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, will become permanent after receiving the vote of approval from the board of Horse Racing Ireland. "The HRI Board accepted that there were many positive reasons for retaining 48-hour declarations on a permanent basis," said Jason Morris, director of racing at Horse Racing Ireland. "Significant commercial, marketing and operational benefits have been identified including the promotion of our sport by media and the betting industry. "48-hour declarations are considered essential by our media rights...

A total of 390 fixtures will be run in Ireland in 2022, with the fixture list published on Tuesday. There are 387 fixtures on the list at this stage with three 'floating fixtures' to be kept in reserve to be programmed at short notice by the Horse Racing Ireland Fixtures Committee. There will be 346 turf fixtures (up from 339 in 2021) and 44 all-weather fixtures (up from 41 this year). Six Sundays have been kept blank-Apr. 24, June 19, July 24, Aug. 28, Sept. 4 and Oct. 9, and...

Longines Irish Champion S. Day will be a World Pool event for the first time, Horse Racing Ireland announced. Sept. 11 marks the collaboration between the Hong Kong Jockey Club, Tote, Horse Racing Ireland and the Racecourse Media Group at Leopardstown where racing fans from around the world will have the opportunity to bet into a single pool, ensuring larger and deeper pools, differentiated pricing, and the opportunity for unequalled value for Tote customers. Created and hosted by the Hong Kong Jockey Club since 2018, over 20 leading racing nations,...

Irish racecourses can host up to 50% of their outdoor capacity beginning on Sept. 6 following the Irish Government's latest COVID-19 response roadmap, Horse Racing Ireland announced on Thursday. Racecourses may also utilise 60% of their indoor capacity for hospitality purposes should attendees consume food and beverages indoors as long as they provide evidence of their Digital Covid Vaccine Cert (DCC). Attendance in both spheres will be increased to 100% as long as all covid restrictions are lifted on Oct. 22. Regarding Irish Champions Weekend on Sept. 11 and 12,...

Paddy Walsh, chief executive officer of the Association of Irish Racecourses, has said his "members are frustrated" as tracks continue to be restricted to very limited crowds. While British racecourses are back at full capacity and other sports and sectors in Ireland are seeing restrictions eased, Irish racecourses remain limited to 500 patrons, with exceptions made to allow 1,000 at the Irish Derby meeting and the Galway Festival. Horse Racing Ireland is seeking exceptions to allow larger crowds at next month's Harvest Festival at Listowel and Irish Champions Weekend, and...

Six-month statistics for horse racing and breeding in Ireland shows underlying growth in the industry despite the ongoing challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. The report was released by Horse Racing Ireland on Thursday. The metrics of horses in training (+24%), owners (+23.9%), new owner (+31%),  runners (+23.8%), fixtures (+8.4%), and race numbers (+14.6) have all shown strong growth over the corresponding pre-pandemic figures for 2019. Attendance at Irish racecourses was the major area where figures suffered, as there has been no public attendance at any racemeeting in Ireland for...

The first winner of Horse Racing Ireland's IRE Incentive Scheme in Britain was Imperial Fighter (Ire) (The Gurkha {Ire}) in the British European Breeders' Fund EBF Maiden S. at the Qatar Goodwood Festival on Saturday. The owner, Michael Blencowe, was awarded a €10,000 IRE Incentive voucher to spend on Irish-breds at Irish sales because Imperial Fighter is an Irish-bred. The IRE Incentive Scheme has now awarded a total of €450,000 in Irish sales vouchers to 36 individual owners since its inception in March of 2021. Additional British-based races that will...

The EBF Maiden S. at Glorious Goodwood on Saturday will be part of Horse Racing Ireland's IRE Incentive scheme, meaning a €10,000 Irish sales voucher will be up for grabs for connections of an Irish-bred winner. The vouchers, of which €440,000 worth have been paid out since the scheme launched in March, are redeemable for Irish-bred yearlings at Irish public auction sales. "Great Britain is by some distance the biggest export market for Irish Thoroughbreds and it is important to expand the IRE Incentive there," said Charles O'Neill, chief executive...

Longines Irish Champion S. Day at Leopardstown on Sept. 11 will be a World Pool event, marking the first time Irish racing will participate in the World Pool. Brian Kavanagh, chief executive of Horse Racing Ireland, which owns Tote Ireland, said, "Irish Champion S. Day at Leopardstown--day one of the Longines Irish Champions Weekend--is a showcase day in Irish racing, and Horse Racing Ireland welcomes its inclusion in World Pool. The addition of Irish Champion S. Day is a first for Irish racing and is both great news for Irish...