By the numbers: Flat racing streaks ahead in popularity stakes

Irish racing’s focus through 2016 will be on revitalising ownership levels in the National Hunt sector, after 2015 industry statistics appeared to reveal a significant division in the overall wellbeing between the flat and jumps.

Although bloodstock and export sales rose again in 2015, the total number of runners in Ireland last year was down 1.6 per cent to 27,048, even though the numbers of runners on the flat actually rose by 2.7 per cent to 11,560.

A significant slide in National Hunt entries (7.2 per cent) and runners (4.5 per cent) was one result of an overall drop in the number of horses in training in Ireland to 8,214, down 4.6 per cent on 2014. The number of owners in Horse Racing Ireland’s figures also fell 2.6 per cent to 3,604.

On-course betting was down 1.1 per cent to €93.2 million. A slight drop in total attendance figures to 1.28 million was largely attributed to wet weather conditions which affected many of the major festival meetings.

On the back of increased Government support, prizemoney jumped almost 10 per cent in 2015 to €53.4 million and HRI's chief executive Brian Kavanagh emphasised that competitive prizemoney levels will help attract and retain owners, which remains a top priority.

However Kavanagh rejected the idea that prizemoney increasingly winds up benefiting a small ownership elite at the top level and pointed to increased minimum prizefunds for 2016 as a means of boosting ownership levels overall.

“We want to get back to a situation where the base is growing for both flat and National Hunt. The flat figures are positive and encouraging. The flat programme is very competitive and there is a strong spread of horses going into training with different trainers.

“There is a quicker cycle for horses to get into the system on the flat and it’s more international, with greater residual value globally,” Kavanagh said.

“National Hunt is an area we will focus on this year and the challenge of revitalising domestic ownership, particularly in the National Hunt sector, is not one I would underestimate.

Syndicates

“Racing reflects the general economy very directly and the National Hunt scene, apart from the very top level, depends very much on domestic disposable income. A lot of syndicates were involved during the Celtic Tiger years, so we have to try and encourage those people who were involved in syndicates in the past back into ownership.

“There are reasons why the flat figures are more encouraging, for instance the longer cycle of National Hunt foals getting into the racing population. But we would like to see the turnaround on the flat replicated in National Hunt this year so we can get back to an overall growth path,” he added.

Kavanagh stressed HRI’s aim to provide competitive prizemoney across all racing categories and pointed to a €1,000 increase in minimum race values.

“But racing is a pyramid structure and if bigger owners choose to have their horses in training here, then I think it is a positive thing. Right now I think we see some of the best National Hunt horses we’ve ever seen trained in Ireland. The challenge is to get balance across the programme,” he said.