THIS week’s Punchestown Festival looks set to break attendance records following a week of sunshine at the Co Kildare track.
The first three days of the meeting drew a total of 61,355 racegoers, up over 6,000 on last year and 8,000 ahead of 2023 levels.
With over 30,000 expected through the gates yesterday, and a similar number on Saturday, the 2018 Festival record attendance figure of 127,489 looks likely to be surpassed.
Punchestown CEO Conor O’Neill said: “It’s been a fantastic week. The weather certainly made for a special atmosphere. To get five sunny days in a row in Ireland is rare. For them to coincide with the Punchestown Festival is a miracle.”
The Punchestown team had been confident of a good week as advance bookings were up on previous years. “We were tracking between 25% and 30% ahead of last year, and the UK market was up 12%,” reported O’Neill. “We’ve been doing a lot of work in Britain, targeting both racegoers and runners.
“The Albert Bartlett Triple Crown Series has taken our team all over the UK and their work has paid off. I want to give particular credit to Shona Dreaper and Sean Crowe for that. Targeting Britain has been a priority.”
By Saturday evening the Festival will have had a total of 64 British runners. O’Neill commented: “It’s unbelievable. We even had to use the Curragh Racecourse for overflow stabling. Those British runners help engage the UK market and it was good to see so many of them win and run well this week.”
O’Neill singled out the groundstaff for particular praise. “The real heroes this week have been the teams out on the track. To do what they have done, provide yielding ground all week, is nothing short of phenomenal. As soon as the runners are off the track they are back out there working on it. I think they have no more than three hours of sleep.”
CEO of Punchestown since 2018, O’Neill was inclined to agree that this year’s Festival has been the most successful since he took over from Dick O’Sullivan. He said: “Weeks like this don’t happen without the support of so many people, especially those who come through the turnstiles, and we are very grateful for that support.”
British downturn
This week’s Punchestown bonanza coincided with the publication of some disappointing statistics by the British Horseracing Authority [BHA] which confirmed decreases in betting, attendances, prize money and the number of horses in training for the first quarter of 2025.
Total betting turnover in Britain fell by 9% in the first three months of the year, compared with the same period in 2024.
Total attendances fell by more than 16,000 from 682,385 to 666,069. The reduction in crowds at the Cheltenham Festival accounted for over 11,000 of the shortfall.
Overall prize money was down by £1.5m from £33.9m to £32.4m. Over jumps, the total actually increased by £1.5m from £20.9m to £22.4m, albeit there were 42 more jump races run this year. The BHA said that the £3m drop on the flat, from £13m to £10m, could largely be explained by the trial of Sunday evening fixtures (total prize money of £945k), and also the timing of the Good Friday fixtures (the three fixtures staged that day offer a total of £1.7m).
As of March 31st, the number of horses in training in Britain was down by 1.9% compared with the same date in 2024, falling from 15,359 to 15,070.
PUNCHESTOWN FESTIVAL TOTAL ATTENDANCES
2016: 114,438
2017: 122,557
2018: 127,489
2019: 126,840
2020: cancelled
2021: behind closed doors
2022: 115,000
2023: 120,727
2024: 118,318