IT was widely reported this week that Suzanne Eade has won the race to be appointed chief executive officer of Horse Racing Ireland (HRI).

Eade has held the role of chief financial officer with HRI since joining the semi state body in 2015 and is set to take over from Brian Kavanagh when he steps down in September.

It is understood that Eade’s appointment will be formally announced as soon as Minister of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue rubber stamps HRI’s notification to the department, expected to be in the coming days.

Eade previously worked for Boots Ireland and Oral B, and comes from Dublin, having initially had no background in racing or breeding.

Given this is her sixth year with HRI, she can be expected to be well versed with the issues and challenges facing the industry, including Brexit, Covid-19 restrictions and more recently a number of doping allegations within the sport.

In her role as chief finance officer, she had control over one of the largest expenditure accounts in Irish sport and sat before the Public Accounts Committee with Kavanagh via video link earlier this year.

Backed

The pending appointment has been backed by Irish Racehorse Trainers Association chief executive Michael Grassick, while other associations within the industry are waiting for the appointment to be made official before making a comment.

Eade has also been integral to substantial projects such as the Curragh redevelopment and the innovation of Irish Champions Weekend.

She will become just the second person to hold the CEO position at HRI since the body was set up in 2001. Kavanagh steps down after 20 years at the helm and will take up a new role as Curragh chief executive in November.