THE board of Horse Racing Ireland is expected to agree on how it will spend €67.2 million in 2019 when it meets on December 10th. The figure is €3.2 million higher than was made available in 2017 and 2018.

Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed confirmed the extra money was on the way shortly after Tuesday’s Budget speech by the Minister for Finance. Minister Creed said: “An increased allocation of €4 million for 2019 has also been provided to assist with the strategic development of the horse and greyhound sector.” In keeping with the 80%-20% split between the two sports, this means €3.2 million extra will go to Horse Racing Ireland.

Welcoming the news, HRI chief executive Brian Kavanagh said: “We hope to have published our Strategic Plan before December. I don’t want to pre-empt either the HRI budget or the plan, but horse and staff welfare are likely to be two important areas. We are also greatly looking forward to the opening of the Curragh in 2019, which was generating a lot of interest in Paris last weekend.”