Irish Racehorse Owners' Racecourse Concessions Doubled

From May of this year Irish Racehorse Owners will get twice as many racecourse passes as before, when their allocation rises from two to four admissions for each owner.

The concession applies to sole owners, partners and syndicates.

The move follows long-term discussions between Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), The Association of Irish Racecourses (AIR) and the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners (AIRO).

Brian Kavanagh, Chief Executive of HRI, said: 'Owners are the foundation of the racing industry and this move will reward their interest and commitment in a significant way. We have consistently reduced the cost of race entries and increased the level of prize-money to encourage and promote racehorse ownership, which has seen consistent growth in recent years with 969 new owners registering in 2005. Complimentary admission to race meetings for a reasonable number of owners and connections is proper recognition of their key role in the sport.'

Commenting on the new arrangements, Paddy Walsh, Chief Executive of AIR, said 'We are delighted to announce this initiative as it enables racecourses to acknowledge in a concrete way the significant contribution of owners to our industry. In 2005, 45,000 entries were granted to owners holding AIR Access Cards. Consequently, the doubling of the number of cards issued to owners will bring the total value of this concession by racecourses to over ?1.5 million annually.'

Aiden Burns, Manager of the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners said: 'During our discussions with HRI and the AIR we emphasised the importance of the Racehorse Owners and we feel that this is important progress and we look forward to achieving further improvements in facilities and entitlements for owners in the near future.'