Rossa Ryan and Bluestocking at ParisLongchamp© Photo Healy Racing
Earlier this year Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) published a five-year strategic plan outlining their objectives for the industry between now and the end of 2028.
In order to achieve their projected growth in a number of key areas, HRI will require increased Government support via the Horse and Greyhound Fund, plus a significant increase in the number of annual racing fixtures.
Horse racing’s share of the Government Fund stands at €76m in 2024 and needs to rise to €92.4m by 2028 to keep HRI’s plan on track.
HRI projected that the current figure of €76m would rise to €79.8m in 2025 and last week’s Government Budget almost hit that mark with a contribution of €79.3m allotted to horse racing next year. So far, so good for HRI’s strategic plan as Government funding is within half a million of the projection.
Over the course of the five year plan HRI is forecasting a 9% increase in the number of annual fixtures from 395 (2024) to 430 in 2028. It is estimated that this will in turn result in ‘significant’ increased revenue from Media Rights plus a 14% increase in Owners’ contributions and a 10% increase in the number of people attending race meetings annually.
Somewhat surprisingly, the recently published 2025 Fixture List sees next year’s number of race meetings remain static at 395. The reason cited for this is that “The number of horses in training in Ireland this year remain at similar levels to 2023 and therefore it was felt prudent not to increase the number of fixtures for 2025.”
An obvious question arising from this statement is how do you get the number of horses in training to increase if you don’t increase the number of opportunities for them to race?
October is the busiest month of the year in terms of horse racing fixtures in Ireland with a total of 43 meetings scheduled this month. Last week alone there were 13 race meetings staged with double fixtures on 6 out of the 7 days.
A worrying trend regarding last week’s fixtures is that there were a total of 26 races run with less than 8 runners (minimum number required for standard each-way betting).
If HRI is to maximise Media Rights revenue for the sport going forward it will need optimum size fields of 8 or more runners to stimulate betting. When you see how much of a struggle that is currently, it could pose a major problem in four years' time when HRI are planning to schedule an additional 245 races per year.
British racing struggles with field sizes as its bloated fixture list causes the average number of runners per race to hover between 8 and 9 horses. Ireland has historically fared much better with average field sizes which were still a relatively healthy 11.7 in 2023 (down from 12.1 in 2022).
It will require a very fine balancing act from HRI to increase the total number of fixtures without impacting too heavily on the average field sizes. Their decision to shy away from any increase in fixture numbers in 2025 indicates they are well aware of the financial consequences of getting this balance wrong.
Getting the balance right is also crucial when it comes to Jumps racing’s biggest week of the year at Cheltenham in March. The latest tweaking with the race programme for the festival means there will now be 12 handicap races across the four days.
Turning three of the conditions races into handicaps does nothing to enhance the status of Cheltenham as the pinnacle of the jumps racing season and will hardly put any extra bums on seats come March.
Whatever about the status of Cheltenham as the premier jumps fixture of the season, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe weekend in Paris is undoubtedly the highlight of the European Flat season.
It was a memorable two days for Ballydoyle at Longchamp, winning five races and having the first colt home in the big one on Sunday.
The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe itself was a most interesting race and it was particularly satisfying to see Galway native Rossa Ryan land such an important contest on the supplemented Bluestocking.
Bluestocking, a lowly end of season maiden winner at Salisbury at two, failed to get her head in front in six starts at three, but has certainly blossomed at four. Punters certainly latched onto her Prix Vermeille victory last month over the course as the key piece of form going into Sunday’s race. Bluestocking beat Aventure by three parts of a length in that contest and both were hammered in the betting on Sunday and again filled the first two places home.
Fans of City Of Troy again saw the colt’s status enhanced on Sunday as he had Bluestocking over eight lengths behind him when the pair clashed at York in the Juddmonte International and his stablemate Los Angeles, third on Sunday, was six length adrift of him when they ran against each other at Epsom. Everything is building up nicely for his tilt at the Breeders’ Cup Classic next month.
Seeing that the only two Irish riders in the Prix de l’Arc field, Rossa Ryan and Oisin Murphy, both ply their trade in Britain you would have to think that international trainers and owners view Ireland as something of a backwater when it comes to our Flat jockeys. It seems a long time ago now that Johnny Murtagh and Mick Kinane were the go-to riders for all the big international contests, but our current crop barely gets a look in these days.
