Bloodstock sales and racecourse attendances once again provide the headline figures for Ireland’s horse racing industry, according to Horse Racing Ireland’s (HRI) returns for the first half of 2015. Attendances at race-meetings continued their recovery and on-course betting consolidated its gains from 2014. The continuing challenges facing the industry were, however, highlighted by a decline in the number of entries, horses in training and active owners.

The key statistics are: