Horseracing Ireland Reveal 2002 Stats Horse Racing Ireland has published statistics for 2002, its first full year in operation. There was a total of 279 fixtures in 2002, an increase of 11 fixtures on 2001. 38 fixtures were cancelled, although with 33 re-scheduled just five were completely lost. Prizemoney reached a record level of ?46.3m, an increase of ?4m (9.4%) over 2001. National Hunt prizemoney,including point-to-points, increased by 10.7% and Flat prizemoney by 8.3%. Sponsorship increased by ?340,000 to a total of ?6.5m, 5.6% up on 2001. The introduction of the euro in 2002 affected betting turnover, which was down by 3% from ?215m to ?208.4m. On-course SP shops, however, performed well with a 4.2% increase to ?7.4m. Tote betting increased from ?36m in 2001 to ?38.8m (7.7%).This includes revenue from the newly-introduced betting into UK Tote pools. In the home market alone the Tote increase was 4%. Attendances were slightly down on 200 at 1,286,914, - a drop of 9,516. The average attendance per meeting was 4,988 against the previous year`s 5,124. The average number of horses in training increased to an all time high of 5469 while the new owner registrations rose by 4% to 817. Irish trained horses won a total of 22 Group/Graded races in the UK in 2002, including 12 Group 1 races. Dermot Weld`s training performance in claiming first and fourth prizes in the Melbourne Cup and Rock Of Gibraltar`s five Group 1 victories were the higlights of a memorable year for Irish trained horses.
