HRI announce further funding changes

Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) today announced a further series of budgetary measures for 2009.

These are in response to the challenging economic environment, the €1.2 million reduction in funding to the industry announced in the April 2009 Budget, and a significant drop in HRI's overall income, which is forecast to be down by 14% year-on-year.

The new measures include a range of cost saving initiatives, a reduction in prize money, and continued restrictions on racecourse capital development projects.

HRI's Chief Executive, Brian Kavanagh, stated: "We are in unprecedented times, and the HRI Board is taking these measures to ensure that racing operates to a balanced budget for the year." The key features of the revised HRI budget for the remainder of 2009 are as follows:

Total prize money will be reduced by a further €2.7 million to €53.8 million in 2009, with a 5% cut in base values to be applied across all race categories from the end of May. This has been necessitated by a significant drop in the level of owners' entry fees and race sponsorship compared to last year. Overall, with the cuts previously announced, prize money will fall by €6.6 million or 11% in 2009. A further reduction in the administration fee and prize money for Point-to-Points will also apply from this autumn.

The Racecourse Capital Development Fund will continue to be curtailed with no new projects approved in the short term. This Fund is financed by long term borrowings and until the issues surrounding the long term future of the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund are addressed, borrowings to cover necessary future developments cannot be put in place.

Additional cost savings of €0.5 million (or 6%) will be achieved within HRI through further cuts in central overhead and administration costs.

Further savings of €445k (or 6%) are being sought from the Turf Club for 2009 in relation to the integrity costs.

HRI's Chief Executive, Brian Kavanagh, added: "While further cutbacks at this point of the year are regrettable, they are unavoidable in the current climate. An improvement in the economic environment and most importantly secure, long term funding are central to a return to growth in the industry. HRI continues to work to achieve this aim, so as to safeguard the 16,500 mainly rural jobs within the Irish horse racing and breeding industry, and to ensure the resumption of the Racecourse Capital Development Programme as soon as possible."