Horse Racing Ireland has announced the creation of a new division within the organisation focused specifically on increasing racehorse ownership and retaining those already within the fold.
The number of new owners getting involved with the sport is up nearly eight per cent year on year with 552 new individuals getting involved so far in 2016. They form part of an active racehorse ownership database of 3,359, again showing an increase from 2015.
Aidan McGarry has been appointed as Owner Relations Manager, moving from his role as Racehorse Ownership Manager within Irish Thoroughbred Marketing.
The ownership department will retain its close links to ITM, even though operations will transfer to its parent company HRI, under the remit of Director of Racing, Jason Morris.
McGarry’s role will be to liaise with current owners, both domestic and international, helping to ensure that the ownership experience in Ireland is of a consistently high standard.
A significant focus will be on working with racecourses to continue improving their facilities and raceday offerings for owners.
An Owner Recruitment Manager will be employed in the coming weeks, whose role will focus on attracting new owners. In particular, the development and promotion of joint ownerships and syndicates will be a priority with various campaigns targeting new owners as well as those lapsed in recent years.
This role is currently being advertised on the Horse Racing Ireland website.
Completing the new Department will be Caroline Townend who will join the team as the Ownership Administrator.
“Attracting and retaining owners is a major priority for Horse racing Ireland,” said Morris.
“It remains one of our biggest challenges.”
“We are making progress which is reflected in the increasing ownership figures this year, but we need to build on this.”
“We’re very conscious of the need to improve the experience for existing owners as well as attracting new people to racehorse ownership, which is why we will have one manager dedicated to owner relations and another targeting recruitment.”
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