The 2015 budget just announced by the board of Horse Racing Ireland has two significant components – being both owner and customer focused. This is an acknowledgment of the imperative to encourage and retain the people who are key funders of the sport, and similarly to look after the people who pay to watch the show.

The approach to the owners is two-fold, to make sure that they are competing for a level of prize money that does not make other racing jurisdictions more attractive alternatives, and to reduce the costs that they incur when they have horses in training.

The increases in prize money are varied, with an expressed emphasis on what they call the ‘point of entry’ races. The argument is often put forward that prize money levels at the top end of the racing programme do not matter so much, the prestige of winning such races being more valuable. That said, the base value for a Group 1 race will rise by 12.5% in 2015.

It has to be said that the opportunities for international performers are now so myriad, and travel so much easier than it was, that the lure of prize money is also strong. Ireland’s top races have to keep an eye on the competition at this level.

With a large portion of the capital budget for racecourses surely being directed at the Curragh and Leopardstown, it is reassuring to learn that priority will be given to projects described as customer facing. The comfort of the racegoer, in whatever guise he or she attends, is an imperative. So too is maintaining the integrity of the sport, which it is anticipated will be adequately funded and involve significant capital expenditure.

IRELAND MAPPED

A reasonable claim that is often made by the bloodstock industry when lobbying is the fact that breeding and racing is a 32-county activity, while the extent of the rural penetration has never been properly measured. This has now been corrected with the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association commissioning a mapping of the thoroughbred horse population in Ireland.

It is enlightening and will have many uses in the months and years ahead. Further details are carried on page A6.