The national authority for thoroughbred horse racing in Ireland – the Horse Racing Ireland – revealed positive industry figures for 2016, saying that almost all areas managed to generate growth. The announcement comes after last year brought massive success for the horses trained in Ireland under the Flat and National Hunt codes.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of HRI Brian Kavanagh, last year was the seventh straight year which saw sales grow. He cited the percentage of the increase, saying that horses that had been bred in Ireland continued to dominate on a global scale. Apart from that, he also revealed that Irish horses were exported to a total of 36 countries on a global scale.
Mr. Kavanagh also shared that Tote Ireland faced another year of turnover increase, as 2016 was the sixth straigth year of revenue growth. The increase posted in Tote Ireland’s revenue amounted to 22%, rising from €79.3 million to €96.8 million and had been driven by betting into Irish pools from customers and global markets.
As mentioned above, 2016 brought the desired growth for a lot of companies at the region, which on the other hand, was proven by the following categories: ownership, entries made in races as well as horses-in-training over the last 12 months, and more specifically over the second six months of the year.
As revealed by Horse Racing Ireland, the sales of bloodstock rose for seventh year in a row, while bloodstock export increased for the sixth straight year in 2016. The increase registered in the public auction bloodstock sales amounted to 7.7%, boosting the sales to €164.2 million. The public auction export sales, on the other hand, rose by 1.9% and reached €272.9 million.
When it comes to horses-in-training and ownership, there was an increase registered in all three categories, including active owners, new owners and horses-in-training. According to the statistics published by the Horse Racing Ireland, the number of active owners rose by 1.5% and reached 3,663 from 3,609 announced earlier. There was also an 9.5% increase in the number of new owners to 705. The horses-in-training also increased from 8,214 to 8,561 following a 4.2% boost.
As mentioned above, all seven categories in the entries and runners were reported to have posted an increase. What is more, betting over 2016 also registered a successful year. On one hand, Tote revealed that it total betting registered a massive 22.1% increase from €79.3 million to €96.8 million.
The On-Course Betting, however, was one of the categories which in 2016 posted a decline. All four categories cited by the HRI posted a decline, including the Bookmaker Betting, On-Course SP Shops, On-Course Tote Betting and Total On-Course Betting.
- Author
Daniel Williams
