Ireland’s horse racing annual figures, published yesterday for 2015 are the proverbial curates egg with a number of key indicators continuing to rise but other areas offering grounds for a new focus in 2016.
The biggest number and therefore arguably the most important from an industry perspective is the that of Irish bloodstock sales which increased for the sixth consecutive year.
€152 million was spent on horses at public auction here in the past 12 months, up 3.5% on 2014. The rise in value of sales of horse born here and sold internationally rose in even more dramatic terms, climbing 16.7% to €267 million.
Irish racing is a major player on a global stage. Irish trained horses won more than €18 million in prize money in the UK and further afield through the year, equivalent to one third of the total prize money raced for in Ireland at every meeting.
Commercial sponsorship is up again in 2015 climbing 7.5% to €4.3 million. The roster of major brands associating themselves with the biggest events is impressive with Dubai Duty Free, Lexus, Quipco and Ryanair nestling comfortably alongside more expected sponsors like Boylesports and Paddy Power.
Tote Ireland, the pari-mutuel betting service wholly owned by Horse Racing Ireland also experienced a fifth consecutive year of growth, with turnover up 29%. This was driven mostly by growing international pooling of betting on major races.
The main area of concern is the fall in the number of horse in training and owners involved in the sport. This is particularly so in the traditionally stronger area of National Hunt Racing and it may be that the dominance of major owners like Gigginstown Stud, JP McManus and Rich Ricci at the highest level are making it seem like a tougher game to strike lucky at with a single horse.
Attendances were also down slightly but that is largely attributable to the wet second half of the year wiping out big gains from the first six months.
“We continue to focus on improving the horses-in-training and ownership figures and the decline of recent years has started to slow down, which is positive,” said HRI Chief Executive Brian Kavanagh.
“With additional increases in prize-money, further reductions in administrative costs and enhanced supports for trainers, we expect to see real progress in 2016.”
“We are building on our commitment to increase prize-money and to reduce administrative costs for owners and trainers.”
“Competitive levels of prize-money will help us to attract and retain owners, which remains our top priority. The growth in commercial sponsorship shows that confidence in racing’s appeal for a large portion of the sporting public remains strong and we expect further gains in 2016.”
