HORSE RACING IRELAND FACTBOOK 2018 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 02 Prize-Money 29 2018 IN SUMMARY 04 Sponsorship 33 Trainers, Riders 35 and Staff STATISTICS 05 Leading Horses 36 Attendance 06 Exports 38 On-Course Betting 10 Classifications 41 Off-Course Betting 11 Owners, Trainers 46 and Jockeys Tote 13 Betting by 14 FIXTURERacecourse LIST 52 2019 Breeders 15 MAJOR RACES 54 2019 Irish Sales 15 MAP OF 56 RACECOURSES Overseas Winners 16 MAPS OF BREEDERS 57AND TRAINERS Horses in 18 THE Training HRI 58 AWARDS 2018 Ownership 19 CROWNING THE 60 CHAMPIONS Fixtures 20 STUD AND STABLE 62 STAFF AWARDS Entries and 22 PHOTOGRAPHYRunners INDEX 63 Balloting 27 CONTENTS 2018 INTRODUCTION 2018 Hunt runners has shown a decrease, the Uncertainty around Brexit was a number of runners on the Flat is up as are significant factor as Irish bloodstock the number of individual winners, which sales suffered their first reversal in nine has risen to 1,904 from 1,821 overall. years. A strong market for National Hunt Prize-money is another priority for us horses was offset by a decline for those and it reached a figure of €63.5m in 2018, selling Flat horses and overall, sales at up 3.9% on the 2017 figure of €61.1m. public auction were down 8% to €161.5m. Further increases are budgeted for 2019, The value of Irish-foaled exports sold at totalling €2.9m, with an emphasis on 20 public auction declined by 1.9% to €263.1, Grade 2 and Grade 3 racecourses around but the number of countries Irish-foaled the country which will share €500,000 to horses were sold to rose to 33. enhance their feature races, races that are After seven years of turnover growth, typically accessible to the majority of the Tote Ireland suffered a reversal with horse population. revenue dropping 33.3% to €69.2m due It is encouraging that commercial to a significant falloff in money going into sponsorship in 2018 rose once again. A off-course Irish pools from overseas. Total total input of €5.2m towards the overall on-course betting saw a combined fall of prize fund reflects an increase of 5.3%, a 9.1% to €75.5m, continuing the downward significant jump on the 3% rise of the year trend in on-course betting and once n behalf of Horse Racing Ireland, before. Commercial sponsorship has risen again demonstrating the changing nature I am pleased to present the in each of the last three years, confirming of the betting markets. Ofourteenth edition of the Irish horse racing’s continued appeal as an We are facing our challenges head-on. Racing Factbook for the year just gone advertising and promotional tool for Horse Racing Ireland has been heavily by. These pages contain a wide range of business. The Irish European Breeders engaged with our European and British 2018 the latest statistics relating to the racing Fund sponsorship is up 11.1% to €2.2m and counterparts on the matter of Brexit. and breeding industries in Ireland, and we acknowledge the Fund as the leading The racing and breeding industries face while the industry continues to perform sponsor. ongoing challenges around funding, well, we acknowledge that 2018 was a Overall, attendances were marginally infrastructure and staffing. Our annual challenging year. down to 1.274m in 2018, a drop of 0.5% return to the Irish economy tops €1.84bn, On the track, at home and abroad, on the year before. Attendances did show while there are almost 29,000 jobs, our horses, trainers and jockeys enjoyed an increase in the latter half of 2018 and directly and indirectly, supported by both tremendous success. There were 17 we expect that trend to continue, as we industries. Irish-trained winners at the Cheltenham prepare for the opening of the new-look If you believe that there are any other INTRODUCTION Festival, Irish runners filled the first four Curragh Racecourse which has operated areas that should be covered as we aim to places in a truly memorable renewal of the with a reduced capacity for the past produce a comprehensive overview of all Aintree Grand National where Tiger Roll two years and we hope to build on the the relevant statistics, please let us know. narrowly outpointed Pleasant Company record-breaking crowds seen at the for Gigginstown House Stud, Gordon Punchestown Festival in the last two Brian Kavanagh Elliott and Davy Russell. On the Flat, years. Chief Executive Aidan O’Brien won three British classics, the Jessica Harrington-trained Alpha Centauri was an outstanding performer, Ken Condon and Joseph O’Brien won their first Classics and Curragh trainer Patrick Prendergast made the Group 1 breakthrough. Horse Racing Ireland is firmly committed to increasing the numbers involved in racehorse ownership in Ireland. To that end, we are delighted to report an increase of 16.2% year-on-year with almost 800 new owners registering in 2018, and syndicate ownership rising by 33%. The total number of owners in Ireland is up 3.5% and this is also reflected in an increase of 2.4% in the number of horse-in-training. Total entries, across Flat and National Hunt, are up over 3% and while the total number of National 2 HORSE RACING IRELAND FACTBOOK 2018 “ON THE FLAT, AIDAN O’BRIEN WON THREE BRITISH CLASSICS, THE JESSICA HARRINGTON-TRAINED ALPHA CENTAURI WAS AN OUTSTANDING PERFORMER, KEN CONDON AND JOSEPH O’BRIEN WON THEIR FIRST CLASSICS AND CURRAGH TRAINER PATRICK PRENDERGAST MADE THE GROUP 1 BREAKTHROUGH.” INTRODUCTION 2018 HORSE RACING IRELAND FACTBOOK 2018 3 2018 IN SUMMARY 28,900 DIRECT, INDIRECT AND SECONDARY EMPLOYMENT NEW 797 OWNERS 8,688 HORSES IN TRAINING COMMERCIAL €5.2M SPONSORSHIP MILLION IN SUMMARY ATTENDEES AT 1.27 IRISH RACING 2018 2018 €161.5M BLOODSTOCK SALES AT PUBLIC AUCTION IRISH-TRAINED WINNERS AT €63.5M 17 CHELTENHAM PRIZEMONEY 4 HORSE RACING IRELAND FACTBOOK 2018 HORSE RACING STATISTICS 2018 ATTENDANCE 2018 Attendance 2013- 2017 Attendance 2013- 2018 TOTAL ATTENDANCE 2014 - 2018 1.4M 1.3M 1,317,159 1,317,159 1,285,353 1,276,104 1,194,509 1,281,281 1,274,029 1,285,353 1,276,104 1,194,509 1.2M 1,281,281 1,274,029 1.1M 1.0M 900K 800K 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 TOP SEVEN FESTIVALS BY ATTENDANCE 2017 - 2018 -6 +4 Festival No. of Days 2018 2017 2018 Variance % +/- measurements Galway 7 146,332 141,341 -4,991 -3% Punchestown 5 122,557 127,489 4,932 4% Listowel 7 89,594 91,393 1,799 2% Leopardstown (Christmas) 4 55,970 56,322 352 1% 2018 Curragh (Derby Meeting) 3 10,022 12,821 2,799 28% Fairyhouse (Easter) 2 22,560 16,002 -6,558 -29% Limerick (Christmas) 4 40,072 40,426 354 1% Total 32 487,107 485,794 -1,313 0% ATTENDANCE ATTENDANCE 6 HORSE RACING IRELAND FACTBOOK 2018 HORSE RACING IRELAND HORSE RACING ATTENDANCE BY RACECOURSE 2017 - 2018 Racecourse Number of Number of Total Total Average Average Variance Variance Fixtures Fixtures Attendance Attendance Attendance Attendance (Total) % 2017 2018 2017 2018 2017 2018 Ballinrobe 9 10 21,164 23,447 2,352 2,345 2,283 11% Bellewstown 5 6 14,555 15,281 2,911 2,547 726 5% Clonmel 12 12 14,488 14,044 1,207 1,170 -444 -3% FACTBOOK Cork 18 19 35,107 36,865 1,950 1,940 1,758 5% Curragh 18 18 42,288 47,535 2,349 2,641 5,247 12% Downpatrick 10 9 30,535 28,336 3,054 3,148 -2,199 -7% 2018 Down Royal 12 12 45,000 45,100 3,750 3,758 100 0% Dundalk 39 39 51,144 49,998 1,311 1,282 -1,146 -2% Fairyhouse 21 21 57,964 52,036 2,760 2,478 -5,928 -10% Galway 12 13 157,253 153,525 13,104 11,810 -3,728 -2% Gowran Park 17 18 40,209 48,468 2,365 2,693 8,259 21% Killarney 11 12 27,743 28,031 2,522 2,336 288 1% Kilbeggan 8 8 36,047 32,129 4,506 4,016 -3,918 -11% Laytown 1 1 6,470 5,726 6,470 5,726 -744 -11% Leopardstown 23 22 172,771 173,087 7,512 7,868 316 0% Limerick 19 18 108,979 100,673 5,736 5,593 -8,306 -8% Listowel 9 9 93,014 94,625 10,335 10,514 1,611 2% Naas 18 20 37,690 36,181 2,094 1,809 -1,509 -4% Navan 18 19 35,406 34,162 1,967 1,798 -1,244 -4% Punchestown 18 18 145,320 145,966 8,073 8,109 646 0% Roscommon 9 9 14,737 14,990 1,637 1,666 253 2% Sligo 5 8 14,505 19,072 2,901 2,384 4,567 31% Thurles 11 11 17,317 16,978 1,574 1,543 -339 -2% Tipperary 12 10 16,544 14,315 1,379 1,432 -2,229 -13% Tramore 11 11 27,848 29,245 2,532 2,659 1,397 5% Wexford 11 10 17,183 14,214 1,562 1,421 -2,969 -17% 7 Total 357 363 1,281,281 1,274,029 3,589 3,510 -7,252 -1% 2018 ATTENDANCE ATTENDANCE ATTENDANCE ANALYSIS BY MEETING TYPE 2017 - 2018 2017 2018 Meeting Type Number of Total Average Number of Total Average Meetings Attendance Attendance Meetings Attendance Attendance Flat 142 325,114 2,290 156 236,599 1,517 NH 186 695,344 3,738 187 341,125 1,824 Both 29 260,823 8,994 20 696,305 34,815 Total 357 1,281,281 3,589 363 1,274,029 3,510 ATTENDANCE ANALYSIS BY DAY OF WEEK 2017 - 2018 2017 2018 Day of Week Number of Total Average Number of Total Average Meetings Attendance Attendance Meetings Attendance Attendance Sunday 72 229,418 3,186 59 188,178 3,189 Monday 29 90,978 3,137 41 121,656 2,967 Tuesday 33 122,332 3,707 32 83,527 2,610 Wednesday 36 143,407 3,984 44 142,331 3,235 Thursday 57 232,782 4,084 51 227,275 4,456 Friday 71 245,130 3,453 72 253,614 3,522 Saturday 59 217,234 3,682 64 257,448 4,023 Total 357 1,281,281 3,589 363 1,274,029 3,510 2018 ATTENDANCE ANALYSIS BY EVENING MEETINGS 2017 - 2018 2017 2018 Meeting Number of Total Average Number of Total Average ATTENDANCE ATTENDANCE Meetings Attendance Attendance Meetings Attendance Attendance Afternoon 205 723,702 3,530 204 715,896 3,509 Evening 152 557,579 3,668 159 558,133 3,510 Total 357 1,281,281 3,589 363 1,274,029 3,510 ATTENDANCE ANALYSIS BY NO.