Minister hails racing and breeding sector Martin Heydon, Minister for Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and the Marine, was at Cheltenham last week on Gold Cup Day. The blue-riband race saw Irish-trained horses fill the first four places with Gavin Cromwell's Inothewayurthinkin taking the honours. The minister said that Ireland is a world leader in racing and breeding, and the industry punches well above its weight. "As a proud Kildare man, I'm also aware of the amount of jobs and economic activity all across rural Ireland - over 30,000 jobs and an industry worth 2.5 billion euro to our economy. "To be Minister for Agriculture now with responsibility for this really important sector, where we in Ireland punch way above our weight and are world leaders in, it is a massive responsibility, but a great honour as well, and I look forward to continuing to work really closely with everyone in the breeding and racing sector to make sure we continue to lead the way with Irish racing and breeding."
