Positive Half-Year Stats For Horse Racing Ireland

Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) has released encouraging figures from the first six months of 2016 which show a steady growth in the number of horses in training, registered owners, runners and prize-money.

The 7,024 horses in training represent a 4.5% increase on the previous year, with a near 11% increase in owner registrations pushing the number of active owners in the country up by 1% to 2,892 from 2,867. Entries were up by 3.1% and the number of individual runners by 2.6% at 4,776.

Owners were rewarded with a 6.5% increase in prize-money for the first six months of 2016 to €25.5 million.

“Most of the statistics from the first half of 2016 are positive,” said HRI Chief Executive Brian Kavanagh. “The growth in horses-in-training, entries, runners and owners is welcome and follows on from our increases in prize-money and reductions in owners' administrative costs. Signs of progress were evident towards the end of 2015 and have continued in the first six months of 2016.

He continued, “In particular, we have seen significant improvements in Flat racing across all measurements: races, entries, runners and field sizes. The National Hunt sector has yet to show the same scale of recovery, although, while the first quarter of 2016 was disappointing on these measurements, the last couple of months have shown more positive results. Also, at the recent store sales, Irish owners and trainers were actively buying, which bodes well for further National Hunt growth in the future.”

Attendances at race meetings also rose slightly, with the Punchestown Festival enjoying a record crowd this year, and Tote Ireland continued to fare well, with an overall 30% increase in turnover to €44.2 million. Growing interest from international operators meant a 39.5% rise in off-course betting, while on the racecourse the Tote turnover fell by 6% to €4.8 million and bookmaker betting fell by almost 10% to €31.3 million.

Kavanagh added, “Overall Tote betting continued its trend of double digit growth in recent times. As well as rising turnover in traditional markets, particularly Britain, Irish pools have been boosted by growth in other international markets, most notably the US and Israel.

“In the main, the declines in the Tote's on-course betting were attendance related and as is the case each year, the Galway festival will have a major bearing on Tote Ireland's business for the second half and the full year. The drop off in attendances in June had an adverse effect on on-course bookmaker figures.”