Horse Racing Ireland has reported falls in the number of races, fixtures, entries, winners, horses in training and horse ownership.
Its newly published “2022 Irish Thoroughbred Racing Industry Statistics” show decreases in several areas compared to the previous year. See below for more details https://www.hri.ie/hri/2023/2022%20Industry%20Stats%20Table%20FINAL.pdf
DOWN 4.8%: Number of races
2022 - 2,877
2021 - 3,021
DOWN 1.5%: Fixtures
2022 - 388
2021 - 394
DOWN 14.4%: Total number of entries
2022 - 72,547
2021 - 84,767
DOWN 8.1%: Flat Entries
2022 - 34,760
2021 - 37,814
DOWN 19.5%: National Hunt Entries
2022 - 37,787
2021 - 46,953
DOWN 6.7%: Total runners
2022 - 34,783
2021 - 37,262
DOWN 6.4%: Individual runners
2022 - 8,144
2021 - 8,701
DOWN 6.3%: Individual winners
2022 - 2,092
2021 - 2,233
DOWN 3.5%: Total horses-in-training
2022 - 10,208
2021 - 10,579
DOWN 2.9%: Total owners
2022 - 4,757
2021 - 4,901
DOWN 4.5%: Sole Owner/Partner
2022 - 3,726
2021 - 3,903
DOWN 10.2%: Clubs
2022 - 53
2021 - 59
Ownership by syndicates saw an increase of 27 (3.4%) from 798 in 2021 to 825 in 2022 while ownership by companies rose by 12 (8.5%) from 141 in 2021 to 153 in 2022.
DOWN 23.0%: New owners
2022 - 818
2021 - 1062
DOWN 30.1%: New Sole Owner/Partner
2022 - 531
2021 - 760
DOWN 6.3%: New Syndicates
2022 - 240
2021 - 256
DOWN 16.7%: New Clubs
2022 - 10
2021 - 12
DOWN 9.8%: Owner Retention
2022 - 72.8%
2021 - 80.7%
According to Horse Racing Ireland, the level of “commercial sponsorship” rose by 175.7% (from €2.1 million in 2021 to €5.79 million in 2022).
We are calling on companies to show compassion for the horses who suffer and die and stop sponsoring racing.
The 2022 statistics show that prize money increased by 7.9% from €61.82 million in 2021 to €66.72 million in 2022, much of it ending up in the pockets of wealthy horse owners and trainers. This prize money is made possible thanks to the government shamefully channelling vast amounts of taxpayers' money into Horse Racing Ireland via the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund. To-date, government grants to horse racing exceed €1.3 BILLION (€1,312,904,981), including €72.8 million for 2023.
In relation to attendance at races, the Horse Racing Ireland report claims that “total attendance” in 2022 rose by 440.3% compared to 2021 (when there were Covid-related restrictions in place) - from 0.231 million attendances in 2021 to 1.248 million attendances in 2022. Compared to 2019, the attendance figures is down by over 5%.
The “attendance” figures are wholly misleading, given the fact that Horse Racing Ireland has admitted that they are not actually figures relating to paying members of the public, as would be expected, but rather the total number of people who are at the track, including those involved in horse racing.
In a November 2022 Dail Question, Paul Murphy TD (People Before Profit–Solidarity, Dublin South-West) asked the Minister for Agriculture if attendance figures published by Horse Racing Ireland "include everyone who attends even those who gain free admission - for example trainers, jockeys, stable staff, owners, bookies and staff, catering staff, press and racecourse staff - and if the HRI will be requested to provide the amount of paying attendees to all events for the past two years, in comparison to the figures previously published by the HRI".
In response, Horse Racing Ireland revealed that "the HRI published figures for race attendees includes everyone who attends, paying and non-paying and industry attendees."
The admission makes it clear that horse racing events attract substantially less spectators than Horse Racing Ireland’s statistics suggest.
And the body incredibly maintains that it does not know how many people pay to attend.
"A breakdown of paying attendees is not information that would ordinarily be held by Horse Racing Ireland," a HRI representative told Deputy Murphy. "Horse Racing Ireland holds details of total attendances for every race meeting however there is no split available by type of attendee. Each racecourse operates as a stand-alone commercial entity. The sharing of information around the breakdown of attendee types (paying, non-paying, sponsors, corporate clients, children etc.) is viewed as highly sensitive from a commercial perspective. The disclosure of such commercially sensitive information into the public domain could possibly jeopardise any competitive advantage individual tracks may have."
Such a disclosure would also expose the considerably lower level of public support for racing.
While confirming to Paul Murphy TD that the attendance figures also include those involved in horse racing, there appears to have been an attempt by Horse Racing Ireland to hide this in its “2021 Factbook”.
The publication outlines that in 2021, due to Covid19 government guidelines, “there was no public attendance at any race meeting in the first six months of 2021” and that “the attendance figure at all meetings before July 6 is recorded as ZERO.” Numerous races took place in those six months but the “industry attendees” were not acknowledged in the “total attendance” figures. If an attendance other than zero was recorded, it would have made it immediately obvious that the attendance statistics do not relate exclusively to paying members of the public.
It emerged last year, that Greyhound Racing Ireland - like Horse Racing Ireland - has been presenting misleading “attendance” figures made up mostly of those involved in greyhound racing, including greyhound owners, greyhound trainers and bookies.
The already paltry attendance – which has been plummeting over the past decade – is now known to be a lot less, following a response to a Dail Question from Mick Barry TD. The inclusion of those involved in racing has been more than doubling the actual attendance figures and masking the true level of unpopularity of greyhound racing.
By how much are Horse Racing Ireland’s “attendance” figures being inflated by trainers, jockeys, stable staff, owners, bookies and staff, catering staff, press and racecourse staff? What percentage of the figure is people who actually pay to enter?
The Irish Council Against Blood Sports is calling on Minister Charlie McConalogue - who has approved the latest €72.8 million 2023 grant to Horse Racing Ireland - to reveal the true attendance figures.
ACTION ALERT
Join us in contacting Minister McConalogue and asking him to uncover the true race attendance figure.
Charlie McConalogue
Minister for Agriculture
Tel: 01 618 3199 or 01 607 2000
Email: minister@agriculture.gov.ie; charlie.mcconalogue@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CharlieMcConalogue
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@McConalogue
Don’t attend races or bet on racing.
Demand an end to the government’s massive grants to horse and greyhound racing – more than a €1.6 Billion handed over since 2001, including €91 million for 2023. Contact the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Finance Minister now.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD
Telephone: +353 (0)1-704 3630 OR +353 (0)1-640 3133
Email: leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
Tweet to: http://www.twitter.com/@LeoVaradkar
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradkar
Tanaiste Micheál Martin TD
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; info@fiannafail.ie
Phone: +353 (0)1–618 4350 or +353 (0)21-432 0088
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD
Michael McGrath TD
Minister for Finance
Email: michael.mcgrath@oireachtas.ie; minister@per.gov.ie
http://www.facebook.com/michael.mcgrath.1614
http://twitter.com/mmcgrathtd
Sign and share the petition
Irish Government: Stop Giving Millions of Euro to Cruel Greyhound Racing
https://www.change.org/p/irish-government-stop-giving-millions-of-euro-to-cruel-greyhound-racing
Irish Government grants to horse racing
2001 €47,110,330
2002 €54,452,651
2003 €51,348,800
2004 €53,531,200
2005 €54,680,000
2006 €56,047,000
2007 €58,539,000
2008 €61,028,800
2009 €54,502,000
2010 €47,411,200
2011 €45,830,000
2012 €45,032,000
2013 €44,016,000
2014 €43,376,000
2015 €54,400,000
2016 €59,200,000
2017 €64,000,000
2018 €64,000,000
2019 €67,200,000
2020 €67,200,000
2021 €76,800,000
2022 €70,400,000
2023 €72,800,000
TOTAL: €1,312,904,981 (€1.31 Billion)
Irish Government grants to greyhound racing
2001 €11,777,583
2002 €13,613,163
2003 €12,837,200
2004 €13,382,800
2005 €13,670,000
2006 €14,012,000
2007 €14,572,000
2008 €15,257,000
2009 €13,625,600
2010 €11,852,800
2011 €11,460,000
2012 €11,258,000
2013 €11,004,000
2014 €10,844,000
2015 €13,600,000
2016 €14,800,000
2017 €16,000,000
2018 €16,000,000
2019 €16,800,000
2020 €16,800,000
2021 €19,200,000
2022 €17,600,000
2023 €18,200,000
TOTAL: €328,166,146 (€328.1 Million)
Source: Department of Agriculture
Watch the BBC Panorama documentary “The Dark Side of Horse Racing”
https://youtu.be/VlpQhJFd5Bo
Watch RTE’s award-winning “Greyhounds Running For Their Lives” documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYTb2qBjlMM