HORSE Sport Ireland (HSI) has begun to issue 2025 foal passports. As of May 16th, HSI had received 371 applications and had issued six completed passports.

From these 371 applications, 368 were with pedigree, with three non-pedigree applications received.

352 pedigree applications have had their foal kit sent to the applicant, with the remainder due to be issued imminently.

As of May 16th, 273 of those foal kits (78%) had not yet been returned from breeders to HSI for pedigree applications.

Of the 79 applications who have returned their foal kits to HSI, six had been completed and the passport issued and one was undergoing quality control checks, while the remaining applications’ DNA samples are were with the laboratory for analysis.

Of the seven passport applications, where the DNA samples had been returned to HSI from the laboratory, six were complete.

With regard to the 2024 season, HSI reported that it had received 6,701 foal passport applications for 2024 through the HorseSource system and that 99.5% of applications, for which they received a full DNA result, have been completed.

“We’re pleased to confirm that as of May 23rd, 6,116 passports have been issued,” a spokeswoman said.

“The remaining applications are primarily awaiting final materials, including 297 foal ID kits still to be returned, 193 DNA samples with the laboratory, 26 samples recently returned from the lab currently in the final HSI quality check stage, 48 non-pedigree applications awaiting marking charts from the applicant, the remaining 21 applications are incomplete or do not meet legislative requirements (no EPRN, owner details etc).

“This season, we’ve backed up passport processing with strong internal customer support delivery, over the past six weeks, 91% of all customer service calls have been answered, with missed calls returned through a callback system and a prompt email response.

“The average call response time has remained under five minutes. For 2025, 90% of valid foal passports have been completed.

“For applications where DNA results have been received, 86% have been processed and issued, with remaining samples received in the last five working days.”

Breeders can contact HSI about their passports via info@horsesportireland.ie or by phone at 045 850 800.