Festival meetings fillip but racing attendances down in 2004
HRI chiefs announced substantial growth in Tote betting, continued success for the major festivals, increased sponsorship and significant growth in racehorse ownership. However, overall attendances were down on the 2003 record figure of E1.4m and on-course bookmaker betting declined by 4.6% from E183m to E174.7m.
Attendances at the festival meetings again provided the main positives with the Galway September Festival at 12,500 (+ 52%) and the Tramore August Festival at 23,000 (+28%) showing the most dynamic growth.
The Punchestown Festival at over 75,000 grew by 15% on the previous year, the Fairyhouse Grand National Festival grew by 7% (34,000) while the Curragh Guineas Festival was up by 6% (18,000).
In overall terms, on-course betting declined by 1.8%. Bookmakers experienced a decrease of 4.6% from 183m to 174.7m, while on-course SP shops and the Tote showed increases.
The on-course SP shops increased from 16 to 18 in number and turnover grew by more than 12% to reach 10.9m.
The Tote saw continuous growth throughout the year, up 7% to 47.4m, achieving its best results at Galway and the Christmas Festival at Leopardstown.
National Hunt prize-money increased by 6.7% to E26.9m and Flat prize-money increased by 1.2% from E25.2m to E25.6m. New owners’ registrations went from 850 to 1,000 and the average number of horses in training went up from 5,672 to 6,004.
“We knew 2004 would be a very competitive market-place, particularly with the Olympics and Euro 2004. In that climate I am delighted to see the continuing dynamism in Irish racing, with most of the key indicators showing satisfactory increases. The significant growth in Tote Betting is a very good measure of the popularity of the racing product with the public,” said HRI’s Chief Executive Brian Kavanagh
