PRIZE FUNDS for next year’s Irish Derby and Champion Stakes as well as the top national hunt races face dramatic cuts as a result of the €7.1 million reduction in the Horse and Greyhound Fund announced in the recent Budget.
The fund, which is used to support prize money, racecourse development, policing the sport and administration, will be cut by 13 per cent to €59 million next year from €66 million in 2009.
Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), the State body which administers Irish racing, yesterday announced cuts in all its activities. The agency plans to cut prize money by 10.2 per cent to €47.7 million, hitting all but the lowest grade, which will remain at €7,000.
Prize funds for the country’s two richest races, the Irish Derby and the Irish Champion Stakes, will be cut by €250,000 each. This year’s Irish Derby, run at the Curragh at end of June, had a €1.3 million prize fund, almost €820,000 of which went to the winner, the Aidan O’Brien-trained Fame And Glory.
The Champion Stakes, run at Leopardstown in September, had a prize fund of over €1 million. This year’s winner, the subsequent European champion, Sea The Stars, won over €500,000.
The Oaks and both guineas will be cut by €75,000, while all group races will have their funds reduced by between €12,000 and €15,000.
In national hunt, the graded races face across-the-board cuts. Those limited to novices will see their pots reduced by €10,000, while open races, which include the jumping game’s most prestigious prizes, will be €5,000 poorer.
Prize money helps owners to recoup some of their costs. Both HRI and the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association (ITBA) warned earlier this year that maintaining it is central to future investment in the sport.
HRI and ITBA staff, along with those in the Tote, Irish Thoroughbred Marketing (ITM) and HRI-controlled racecourses, all face 6 per cent pay cuts, although these will be tiered and those on the lower end of the scale will not see a reduction in their wages.
HRI said that it will not be in a position to provide cash for any racecourse development projects until the uncertainty surrounding long-term security of funding is tackled.
Up to this year, the Horse and Greyhound Fund, used to support both horse and dog racing, was tied to the money raised through the betting tax, levied directly on off-course betting turnover in bookies’ shops.
This link was cut last year, although both industries wanted to see it continued and the legislation governing their funding allowed for it. At the same time, the Government dropped plans to double the betting tax from 1 per cent to 2 per cent, pending the outcome of talks on how telephone and internet betting could be taxed.
HRI chairman Denis Brosnan argued yesterday that, when the fund was introduced in 2002, Irish betting turnover was €1 billion, and it generated €68 million in duty for the State.
“Today, the same Irish betting industry turns over €5.5 billion but only generates €30 million in duty,” he said.
Brosnan warned that if the Government fails to put the industry’s funding on a secure footing, it will threaten the 15,500 jobs in rural Ireland that it supports.
HORSE RACING IRELAND CUTS
Prize money to fall 10.2 per cent to €47.7 million next year, leaving it 21 per cent below its 2008 peak of €60.4 million.
Average pay cuts of 6 per cent for staff in Horse Racing Ireland and its subsidiaries, although the lower-paid will not be affected.
Cash for racecourse support schemes will be cut 12 per cent overall.
Grants paid to industry bodies will be cut by 6 per cent.
