THE front page of this paper last week carried a story which included a call from the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) for Horse Racing Ireland to do more to help farmer-breeders.

Among the suggestions from the IFA was making racehorse ownership more attractive and the introduction of races confined to horses whose trainers have fewer than 35 horses in their care.

An increase in the resources put into mares races and upskilling trainers were among the other suggestions outlined by the IFA.

These issues were put forward with a view to ‘improving the viability of thoroughbred breeding on farms’ after a year that was termed dismal for many industry stakeholders.

The sentiments behind these suggestions are commendable and they come in the aftermath of an autumn where it was undeniably tough going for a lot of smaller breeders at many middle to lower tier sales but there are a few points to consider.

CHANGING CONDITIONS

Firstly the changing of the conditions for certain races is not going to stimulate the level of demand in the sales ring that is needed and confining races to horses from yards with fewer than 35 horses in their care creates a grey area.

The system of returning horses in training means that in a given week a trainer who comfortably exceeds the suggested threshold could fall within the qualifying bracket if a number of their inmates were returned out of training.

Rather a more progressive and beneficial approach would come from increasing the current range of races which cater for horses that fall well below the top tiers of racing.

Beginners’ chases for horses rated 109 or less over hurdles, maiden hurdles for horses that have run at least three times and never been in the first three under either code, and rated novice hurdles and chases that cater for lower rated horses all form part of this range.

A look at nine such races in the period of early November to late December in 2018 revealed that seven of them were won by trainers who had sent out fewer than 10 winners in the previous season. Thus the aim of helping smaller yards is being achieved.

FILLIES’ BONUS

Furthermore, the programme for mares in this country has been substantially enhanced over the last number of years and to go with that there is the Irish Thoroughbred Association Fillies Bonus Scheme.

This affords a mare the chance to amass up to €15,000 in bonuses if she wins a mares’ only bumper, maiden hurdle and beginners’ chase once she is eligible.

This scheme is by now well established and this time last year HRI reported that there was a 10% increase in the number of fillies returned in training which is a clear indication that such initiatives are working.

Thus the point is that various initiatives under various guises are already in place and are having a beneficial effect.

As mentioned, the sentiments behind the suggestions expressed by the IFA are commendable but putting restrictions on some races and enhancing an already well endowed programme isn’t going to provide the stimulus to improving the viability of thoroughbred breeding on farms.

Quite simply, the stimulus comes from an upswing in ownership and that is where the resources need to be concentrated on, as improvements in this area will provide better and long term benefits.

Earlier this week, the annual Irish Thoroughbred Industry Statistics revealed that the number of new owners in Ireland last year was 797. Overall though the total number of owners in Irish racing continues to progress slowly, and while the number of owners rose to 3,817 last year (an increase of 3.5%), it lags some way behind the figure of 4587 from 2011.

This is the key area and if the levels of ownership could return to their former levels this would relieve many of the issues that confronted smaller breeders at the sales throughout the autumn.

Critical times for on-course bookmakers

ALAS, the apparently irreversible decline in fortunes of on-course bookmakers was once again starkly illustrated in this week’s release of the Irish Thoroughbred Industry Statistics. In 2018 the on course betting ring turned over €54.8 million and just two years previously this figure was €65.5 million.

In the statements that accompanied this week’s figures Brian Kavanagh noted that ‘Bookmakers and the Association of Irish Racecourses are examining ways in which on-course bookmaker betting can recover and be sustained’.

Unfortunately the time for such examination and strategic thinking was long ago and the fortunes of on-course bookmakers have fallen so far so as to make their decline look terminal.

Hopefully, 2019 will bring with it an embracing of initiatives such as those recently outlined by the Irish National Professional Bookmakers Association whereby they were proposing to cover the gate costs at various industry fixtures.

The hope being that such an initiative, done in conjunction with effective advertising through local media, might help boost attendances to some degree which could in turn benefit the on-course market.

At this stage, there is absolutely nothing at all to be lost by trialling such proposals and the sooner they are put into practice the better.

Another figure to note from 2018 was that the average racecourse attendance came in at 3,509, which is almost 200 fewer than the figure of 3,692 which was recorded two years previously.

This isn’t a huge drop, but it offers a pointer that racing’s appeal as a spectator sport needs to be bolstered and any further slide in average attendances should strike a chord with everyone concerned.

In recent weeks the likes of Tramore, Naas and Gowran have shown just how some of their high-profile racedays can generate a sense of community and occasion in their localities which then manifests itself in strong attendance figures. The success of such days is worth examining closely.