HRI

Horse Racing Ireland boss Suzanne Eade has put attendance figures towards the top of her priority list for the remainder of 2023 and hailed the resilience of owners against the backdrop of the cost of living crisis as the six-month statistics were revealed on Thursday.  Attendances have climbed 7.6% to 544,147 for the first six months of the year while sponsorship rose 4.8% to €4.4m with horses winning overall prize money of €30.6m. That is up 1% on last year's corresponding figures, despite a reduction in the number of race...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...