HRI

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...

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 Champion S., one of the premier races in the European programme, will be sponsored by the Bahrain Turf Club after Horse Racing Ireland and Leopardstown brokered a deal for the Group 1.   The race was won by St Mark's Basilica (Fr) last season and by Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in 2020.  The Bahrain Turf Club have committed to sponsoring the €1,000,000 showpiece for the next six years to the delight of Leopardstown boss Tim Husbands. He said, "We are honoured to welcome such a prestigious and international brand,...

   There have been a lot of football analogies in racing this week. Most have centered around a hypothetical situation whereby the Kevin De Bruynes or the Erling Haalands of this world were leaving the Premier League for sunnier-and more lucrative pay packets-in foreign leagues.     For all the Manchester City fans out there, you can relax, as the analogy was simply fictional. However, there is nothing fictional about the mass exodus of talent facing British and Irish racing.    Ger Lyons is better qualified than most to speak about...

Fewer horses in training, a drop in active owners and falling attendances were reported by Horse Racing Ireland in the six-month Irish Thoroughbred Racing Industry Statistics, which were released on Thursday.  Attendances for the first half of 2022 were down 9% on 2019 levels while on-course bookmakers reduced by 10.3% and Tote Ireland turnover was down a further 12.8%. However, bloodstock sales in Ireland at public auction continue to thrive, with the figures for the first six months up 31% to the most comparable recent figure of 2019.  There were...

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...

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...