THE Government’s recent budget announcement brought the somewhat disappointing news that the Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) budget for 2020 would not be increased from the 2019 level of €67.2 million, having been supplemented by €3.2 million in last year’s budget announcement.

That increase allowed HRI to bolster it’s support of point-to-pointing to a total sum of €2.4 million, including the funding of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board’s (IHRB) integrity services.