Horse Racing Ireland

A survey, focusing on the range of challenges around health, safety and sustainability that employers and key stakeholders face in the racing industry, was launched by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI)'s health and safety division along with the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association (IRTA) and the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders' Association (ITBA). The bespoke online survey, conducted by Red C Research & Marketing, will be anonymous and take 10 minutes to complete. A link to complete the survey will be sent to all industry employers and is also available through equuip's website and...

Prizemoney in Ireland will reach €64.8-million in 2022, an increase from 2021 and second only to 2019 levels. That prizemoney will be paid out over 390 fixtures. Horse Racing Ireland's 2022 budget also includes an increase in funding for the IRE Incentive Scheme, which will pay out €1.3-million in vouchers for Irish-bred horses at Irish sales; the scheme was worth €1.1-million this year. HRI will also increase funding for the point-to-point sector to a record €2.5-million. HRI will increase funds directed to industry education and training to €13.4-million, and approved...

Horse Racing Ireland will increase the minimum and maximum weights allowed for jockeys under both codes. From Feb. 1, the minimum weight will be increased three pounds to 8st 7lb for flat races, four pounds to 10st for National Hunt races and three pounds to 10st 7lb for Qualified Rider races. The changes were decided based upon recommendations from a cross-industry Jockeys Supports Working Group set up by the HRI Programmes Committee. Dr. Jennifer Pugh, the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board's Senior Medical Officer, said, "I very much welcome these changes...

Edited Press Release Simon Harris, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, and Minister for State in Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon were interested observers at the Curragh last week as the racing industry's education and skills cohort showed off their wares. The event was hosted by equuip, Horse Racing Ireland's education and training department, and brought together many elements of the learning community in the racing and breeding industry. Minister Harris and Minster Heydon met students, apprentices and graduates from a host of industry...

Ireland's leading flat jockeys will have a four-week winter break after Horse Racing Ireland restricted three Dundalk meetings in early January to apprentices or jockeys or rode fewer than 20 winners last season. The meetings are Jan. 5, 7 and 14. Jason Morris, Horse Racing Ireland's director of racing, said, "In 2021 HRI extended the break for our leading jump jockeys from 12 to 24 days during June, which was very well received. The changes announced today, which were proposed by the Irish Jockeys' Association, will mean that we will...

A total of 40 nominations have been revealed for the 2021 Horse Racing Ireland Awards, which will be presented in December. Spread across seven categories, the nominees are as follows: Horse of the Year Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}) Minella Indo (Ire) (Beat Hollow {GB}) Chacun Pour Soi (Fr) (Policy Make {Ire}) Flooring Porter (Ire) (Yeats {Ire}) St Mark's Basilica (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}) Snowfall (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) National Hunt Award Henry de Bromhead Willie Mullins Paul Townend Darragh O'Keeffe  National Hunt Achievement Award Dermot...

Jockey Rachael Blackmore will be awarded the 2021 Irish Racing Hero Award at the annual Horse Racing Ireland Awards in December. Blackmore became the first woman to claim the Cheltenham Festival Leading Jockey title with six winners. She found Champion Hurdle success with Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}) on Tuesday, a Triumph Hurdle score with Quilixios (GB) (Maxios {GB}) on Friday and also won races in the middle of the meeting with Bob Olinger (Ire) (Sholokhov {Ire}) and Sir Gerhard (Ire) (Jeremy) on Wednesday and Allaho (Fr) (No Risk At All...

A streamlining of the claiming process for Irish claiming races, to speed up post-race procedures, has been instituted by Horse Racing Ireland and the new regulations will go into effect on Nov. 2. Pre-authorisation on the day of the race will be required for all potential claimants. The claimant's contact details, the name of the designated trainer for the horse they wish to claim, the name of the person responsible for collecting and transporting the claimed horse and the value of the horse they wish to claim should be submitted...

Irish Injured Jockeys has introduced a mental health app called Leafyard that provides tools, activities, and support to help all jockeys with any general mental health concerns. Research commissioned by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board in 2019 and 2020 found that injured jockeys were 46 times more likely to meet the criteria for depression than non-injured jockeys and reported higher levels of dissatisfaction associated with meeting the criteria for distress and generalised anxiety. Ruby Walsh, former champion jockey and chairman of the Irish Injured Jockeys, said, "I suppose I wasn't...

Forty-eight hour declarations, adopted in Ireland from June 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, will become permanent after receiving the vote of approval from the board of Horse Racing Ireland. "The HRI Board accepted that there were many positive reasons for retaining 48-hour declarations on a permanent basis," said Jason Morris, director of racing at Horse Racing Ireland. "Significant commercial, marketing and operational benefits have been identified including the promotion of our sport by media and the betting industry. "48-hour declarations are considered essential by our media rights...

A total of 390 fixtures will be run in Ireland in 2022, with the fixture list published on Tuesday. There are 387 fixtures on the list at this stage with three 'floating fixtures' to be kept in reserve to be programmed at short notice by the Horse Racing Ireland Fixtures Committee. There will be 346 turf fixtures (up from 339 in 2021) and 44 all-weather fixtures (up from 41 this year). Six Sundays have been kept blank-Apr. 24, June 19, July 24, Aug. 28, Sept. 4 and Oct. 9, and...

Longines Irish Champion S. Day will be a World Pool event for the first time, Horse Racing Ireland announced. Sept. 11 marks the collaboration between the Hong Kong Jockey Club, Tote, Horse Racing Ireland and the Racecourse Media Group at Leopardstown where racing fans from around the world will have the opportunity to bet into a single pool, ensuring larger and deeper pools, differentiated pricing, and the opportunity for unequalled value for Tote customers. Created and hosted by the Hong Kong Jockey Club since 2018, over 20 leading racing nations,...