BRITISH owners and trainers will be welcome to participate in the new series of median auction races to be run in Ireland next season.

The Irish EBF Median Sires Series will have three levels of races, the majority of which will be for two-year-olds by a sire with an established median price of €60,000 or less and the rest will be divided between a median price of €75,000 or less and €30,000 or less. In addition there will be an allowance of 2lbs and 4lbs for sires with lesser values in all three levels to benefit two-year-olds by sires with a lower median sire price.

Each of the 24 races will be worth a minimum of €25,000 and one will be worth €200,000. To be run at Naas on the August bank holiday Monday, the €200,000 race will be sponsored by Ballyhane Stud.

Joe Foley, joint-owner of Ballyhane Stud and deputy chair of the Irish EBF, said he received plenty of positive feedback about the series at this week’s Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale.

“It’s going down extremely well,” he said. “There has been huge reaction to it. A bunch of trainers have told me they will be buying more yearlings because of this series and the Foran Equine series of auction maidens, also supported by the Irish EBF. That is what we set out to achieve, so it is very heartening.”

While the Foran Equine series is restricted to horses who have gone through the sales ring, the median auction series is open to homebreds and unsold horses, once their sires meet the criteria.

“A lot of horses will be eligible to run in both series,” added Foley. “Both sets of races will operate side-by-side and they both offer great prize money.”

The €200,000 Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes is not a ‘final’ – the six-furlong race is open to all two-year-olds by a sire whose median price is not more than €75,000.

Foley said: “I’m already getting indications from British trainers that they will be targeting the Ballyhane Stakes and possibly some of the other races in the series too. That is what we want to see – the aim of the series was to stimulate market activity and Irish farms sell a lot of horses to Britain. We want to maintain an open programme, not a restrictive one.”

John O’Connor, chairman of the Irish EBF, said: “Stallion farms want to put something back in and we are trying to find industry-positive initiatives, ones which improve the number of two-year-olds in training and boost the sale of commercial yearlings.

“We had received really positive feedback from owners and trainers on the Foran Equine series of auction maidens, which the Irish EBF also jointly sponsors. It has been great to see how those races have filled and how competitive they are.

“But we were conscious that not every horse has been through a sales ring or was sold at auction, so we wanted to give equal opportunity to homebreds or horses who cannot get into a sale. We worked with Horse Racing Ireland and looked at sponsoring the entire range of median auction races. Now we think that, between these two initiatives, it will give a big boost to those middle-range horses. Plenty of horses will be eligible to run in both.

“We’re excited about it – the feedback has been great. I’ve met plenty of people at the sales this week who say they will support these races. The clearance rate this week was good and if this series has played any part in that then we are delighted.”

Further measures

In addition to the main announcement a number of other Irish EBF enhancements are set to boost both the flat and NH programmes. They include:

National Hunt

  • A series of €15,000 auction bumpers races, run from October 2019 to March 2020, designed for horses bought at a recognised store sale as an unraced three or four-year-old for €45,000 or €35,000 or less. The first race will be run at Fairyhouse racecourse on Saturday, October 12th. They are designed to link in with the Red Mills Irish EBF Auction Hurdle Series already up and running successfully since September 2018. Each race is also included in the €5,000 Weatherbys/ITBA Fillies Bonus Scheme.

    • Flat

  • A new €30,000 Foran Equine Irish EBF Nursery Handicap was created as another option for qualified runners to target at the end of the series. It will be over a distance just short of six furlongs and run at Navan on Wednesday, October 23rd, three days after the seven-furlong €120,000 final at Naas.
  • To help fillies in their three-year-old campaign there will be an Irish EBF supported rated race for three-year-old fillies ahead of the Irish EBF Polonia Stakes which has proved such a well-supported addition to the sprint programme in the last two seasons.
  • Irish EBF also provide additional sponsorship for fillies-only handicaps, now totalling 25 races with added EBF prize money of just under €160,000, and the majority of these races are each worth between €25,000-€30,000 in overall prize money. The aim is to create more opportunities for fillies to help enhance their value within the competitive environment of handicaps. Not only are they very lucrative races, but they can be used as a stepping stone to continue racing and keep fillies in training. They have proved very popular, being a great opportunity to keep fillies racing as much as possible and providing a stepping stone on to blacktype success for the likes of Soffia, Surrounding and Waitingfortheday.
  • The Irish EBF continues to support the European Pattern Committee long-term Stayers Project, to incentivise the breeding, owning and training of quality staying horses in Europe. The Irish EBF sponsors the €75,000 Listed Yeats Stakes (1m 5f) at Navan and has increased the contribution to three-year-old and three-year-old and upwards median auction maiden races of nine furlongs or further. The aim is to target support for the produce of stallions who are likely to produce staying progeny.

    • Q: What is the difference between auction maidens and median auction maidens?

    A: An auction maiden is for horses who are EBF eligible and which have been purchased as yearlings or two-year-olds at public auction under the hammer for less than a stated maximum price. In Ireland the ceiling price is usually between €50,000 and €72,000. Runners get a weight allowance based on their sales price.

    A median auction maiden is for horses whose sires are EBF eligible and whose sire established one or more yearling sales in the relevant year with a median price of not more than a particular price. Weatherbys calculate and publish the medians for all stallions in February each year.