With an attendance of over 80,000, organisers have hailed the €3.5m event as a success, writes SEÁN Mac CONNELL, Agriculture Correspondent
THE 137TH Dublin Horse Show closed on a high note yesterday with increased attendances over the five days of the event, which is the primary showcase for the Irish equestrian world.
The chief executive of the 4,000-strong society, Michael Duffy, expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the show and the support it received from the Irish public, with numbers well up on last year.
While the society does not give formal attendance figures, Mr Duffy said that well over 80,000 people had come to the show over the five days, and everything, including the weather, had been kind.
“We begin the evaluation of the show next week and we will be looking, as we do every year, at what can be done to keep the event at the world-class level where it is,” he said.
Part of that evaluation involves sponsorship, vital in running the show. It costs €3.5 million to stage and – as a foundation event of the society – is not run for profit.
During the show, the title sponsor, Fáilte Ireland, expressed satisfaction with the event and it appears likely that it will be the main sponsor again next year.
Mr Duffy said owners and breeders appeared very satisfied with the number of new classes that had been set up this year, and there was particular satisfaction with the classes for seven- and eight-year-old horses.
There was a great deal of praise too, he said, from both home and visiting riders for the quality of the upgraded jumping and warming-up rings and the quality of the turf on the main arena.
He said the credit crunch in the Irish economy had not affected the horse show, which had positioned itself in the market to allow for what was happening in the wider economy.
“For instance, we have frozen prices for this year’s event and I maintain a day out at Dublin Horse Show is very good value, seeing as it opens at nine in the morning and continues until seven o’clock in the evening,” Mr Duffy said.
He said the society also monitored food and catering stands to ensure there was no overcharging and that the Irish public got good value for their money.
“I think we have also got the message across to the public that the Dublin Horse Show is not just about horses but fashion, and crafts and entertainment of all kinds,” he said.
He said the majority of the 300 exhibitors expressed satisfaction with the business they had done. The fact there was a waiting list for exhibition space was a statement in its own right.
Mr Duffy also defended the decision to give a British-based company the contract to supply the bedding for the showgrounds, stressing the materials were Irish.
The tendering process for the show was taken very seriously and was carried out to the highest standards of business governance, he said.
According to statistics issued by the RDS press office, 3,000 bales of hay, 4,000 bales of straw, wood shavings, peat moss, oats, bran and carrots are used during the horse show, which takes up every inch of the 42 acres of the society’s showgrounds.
A recent independent study of the financial impact of the event showed it generated more than €40 million for the local economy.