Continued Growth In All Areas For Irish Racing

Attendances at Irish race meetings grew by almost 10,000 in the first six months of 2007, putting the sport on target to achieve its five-year target of 1.5 million racegoers per annum by the end of 2007.

This will represent growth of over 210,000 racegoers since 2002.

The half-year figures which were released by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) yesterday show continuing growth across all sectors of the industry. On-course Bookmaker betting grew by 9% to ?99.6 million while Tote betting grew by 21.5% to ?26.9 million. Sponsorship maintained the consistent growth of recent years rising by 5.5% to ?3.8 million, while total prize money grew by 4.5% to a new six month record total of ?35.3 million.

The Spring National Hunt Festivals at Fairyhouse and Punchestown were the star performers, with Fairyhouse increasing by over 4,000 racegoers and Punchestown by 5,800, the latter coming on top of a record performance in 2006.

The Tote saw a return to growth from the Punchestown Festival onwards and figures were also boosted by co-mingling from At The Races (ATR) and the UK and French Tote (PMU), which contributed combined additional turnover of ?3.8 million.

Commenting on the figures Brian Kavanagh, Chief Executive, Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) said:-

'April and May were the strongest months in what was a satisfactory first half. It was particularly pleasing to note that demand was strong across the country, with tracks like Gowran Park, Naas, Ballinrobe, Kilbeggan and Roscommon having some excellent race-days. The festivals continue to flourish, although the Curragh's Derby weekend fell foul of the appalling weather. Underlying the promising figures is the continuing dynamism of the individual racecourses which are utilising HRI's Capital Development Fund to create modern facilities for racegoers and racing professionals alike'.

Major capital projects have already been completed this year at Navan, Kilbeggan, Killarney and Galway costing ?8.5 million, ?1.97 million, ?1.1 million and ?22 million respectively.

Ireland's first all-weather track at Dundalk Stadium is on schedule with 12 fixtures allocated for 2007, the first on Sunday 26th August. Cork Racecourse will shortly undertake the construction of a new Pavilion/Grandstand and a refurbishment of the existing Main Stand.

The Curragh Racecourse re-development is the flagship project under the scheme with Phase I incorporating a new ring road and horse tunnel already completed and the next major works scheduled for the second half of the year.

Brian Kavanagh pointed out that HRI will allocate funding of more than ?140 million towards a total investment in racecourse facilities of ?255 million under the scheme. 'We have already allocated ?76 million for projects at ten of the twenty-five racecourses in the State and proposals from many other courses are under discussion and consideration'.

The total number of fixtures and races also increased, by two and twenty eight respectively, with 15,275 runners giving an average field size of 14.6. The average number of horses in training increased by 3.2% to 6799, reflecting both the strong demand for racehorse ownership and a growing foal population. This, however, has resulted in too many horses being entered for the available races with the result that over 11,000 horses were balloted out of races in the period.

Brian Kavanagh commented: 'This situation is not sustainable and was the subject of a special HRI Board meeting in June to consider ways of addressing the problem. After detailed analysis the HRI executives will bring forward proposals to the Board in August and, once finalised, their conclusions will be published thereafter. The emphasis will continue to be placed on improving the quality of the Irish racing product, providing opportunities for horses of a reasonable ability but progressively removing the worst horses from the system.

On the track the year has been very successful and once again we had welcome international successes at Cheltenham, Aintree, Newmarket, Longchamp and Royal Ascot.

I am confident that, given the investment that is going into racecourse infrastructure and the continued high quality of horses in training in Ireland, the outlook for the remainder of 2007 is very positive. By the end of the year, the majority of the key targets set in our previous Strategic Plan will be reached and we look forward to launching a new plan for the further development of the industry for the next five years'.