How the Irish Thoroughbred Foal Levy works plus an update on Final Demand case

Positive news for the Irish Breeding sector in recent days that dual Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Daryz will stand at Gilltown Stud alongside his father Sea The Stars.

Daryz is the first dual winner of the race to stand at stud since Alleged in 1978. That colt was syndicated for a world record value of $16 million at the time, which would equate to over $80 million in today's money.

Not sure what value you might put on Daryz, but it will be fascinating to see what nomination fee is set for him for the 2027 breeding season. His father Sea The Stars was priced at €85,000 for his first season at stud in 2010. Over the intervening years that price has steadily climbed and Sea The Stars now stands with a published nomination fee of €300,000.

Daryz will certainly be a hot property at stud and I'm sure many wealthy owners of top mares from all around Europe, and even further afield, will be actively considering him as an option, almost irrespective of the price.

An interesting element to the breeding industry in Ireland is that we have a statutory instrument introduced in 2000, whereby a levy is due on every thoroughbred foal born and registered in the country.

This tax is then distributed by the Foal Levy Committee within Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) to a number of entities.

The exclusive recipients of the money are the Irish Equine Centre, the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association, Irish Thoroughbred Marketing, Treo Eile and the Irish Horse Welfare Trust.

The amount a breeder pays on each foal born is worked out on a sliding scale determined by the advertised nomination price of the stallion.

This ranges from €35 for stallions standing for €1,000 or less, all the way up to a maximum of €650 if the stallion's published nomination price is €30,001 or more.

I'm no expert in the workings of the breeding side of the industry, but it does seem a little odd to me that the sliding scale of foal levy fees due has not been updated since 2011.

There were 8 stallions standing in Ireland with fees above €30,001 back in 2011, including Sea The Stars who was the second most expensive after Galileo at €85,000.

Today the figure is 14 stallions and goes all the way up to the aforementioned Sea The Stars with a nomination fee of €300,000.

If a breeder sends a mare to Sea The Stars they will be due to pay a Foal Levy of €650.

If another breeder sends their mare to Delacroix, for example, with a nomination fee of €40,000 they are also due to pay a Foal Levy fee of €650.

This is the equivalent of paying the same motor tax on a Ford Mondeo as a Ferrari. Doesn't seem particularly fair.

An apparent anomaly in the Foal Levy system is that if a breeder sends a mare to Frankel in England (nomination fee of £350,000) and the foal is born in Ireland the breeder only pays a Foal Levy of €250. The same amount they would be due to pay if they sent their mare to an Irish-based stallion such as Bayside Boy (€12,500) or Good Guess (€12,500).

Another questionable element of the Foal levy is that the amount due is based solely on the published nomination fee of the stallion.

In reality nobody pays the full published price. There is always a deal to be struck, whether that is a partial refund for a filly foal or a percentage off for repeat business or a share in the subsequent foal.

In 2025 HRI's Foal Levy Committee distributed €2.23 million between the Irish Equine Centre (€1.05m), Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association (€575K), Irish Thoroughbred Marketing (€575K) and a further €223K to the other two recipients.

This is significant money, but it seems apparent that the scheme is weighted to favour those at the top of the breeding pyramid over those lower down.

A small breeder who sends their mare to a stallion priced at €1,000 is effectively paying a Foal Levy of 3.5% of the nomination price, whereas someone who can afford to send their mare to Sea The Stars pays 0.22% of a Levy on that nomination fee.

The small breeder in this case is effectively being charged 16 times more as a percentage of the stallion fee than someone who uses Sea The Stars.

The Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association (ITBA), which is itself a significant recipient of the Foal Levy money, is the official representative body for “all breeders, big and small, flat and national hunt across the island of Ireland.”

Considering that ITBA members account for four of the seven seats on the Foal Levy Committee, it would appear that the breeders themselves are happy enough with the existing structure of the scheme.

In January of this year the British brought in a similar mandatory ‘Welfare Levy' to support essential lifetime health, welfare and aftercare services for all horses bred to race, with a flat rate of £60 per foal.

“All thoroughbred foals, and all foals registered for racing from the Non-Thoroughbred Register, who are born in Britain from January 2026 onwards” will be required to pay the same Levy of £60. That makes the Irish Foal Levy system look far more equitable.

Switching topics, last week when I wrote about the Final Demand case I wasn't sure why the BHA had engaged the services of Dr Lynn Hillyer of the IHRB to inform Willie Mullins that his horse had tested positive for a prohibited substance after running at the Cheltenham Festival.

I thought there may have been some rule about which regulatory body had jurisdiction over an Irish-based trainer, but the BHA has informed me that this was simply done to speed up the process.

It would have taken several more days if the BHA had to arrange for a staff member to travel to Ireland with the news.

As it was, it took five days from the time the BHA were notified of the positive result until Dr Hillyer called to the trainer's yard.

Hard to understand why a simple phone call or email wouldn't have sufficed. Even a courier company or the post office could have hand-delivered a registered letter to the trainer the very next day.

I wonder if every notification of an adverse analytical finding takes place in person. If so, it would seem to be an unnecessary drain on BHA resources in this age of instant communication.