THE publication of the Horse Racing Ireland industry budget for 2023 brought some welcome news for committees across the country who are to be the benefactors of increased financial support this year.

The €1,000 Covid-19 grant which was introduced in 2021 on a temporary basis due to the impact of the pandemic is to be maintained permanently and increased by a further €500 per fixture in recognition of the ongoing inflationary pressures that they are currently experiencing.

This supplements the existing €6,500 grant that they are in receipt of to assist with the costs involved in the staging of a point-to-point fixture.

The release which accompanied this announcement of how HRI would spend its €72.8 million budget stated that: ‘there will be an increase to the funding for the point-to-point sector of €0.3 million in 2023 with the total support, including point-to-point integrity, reaching €2.6 million (+14%).’

Such increases are laudable but delving into the figures quoted does raise some questions.

Rewind a year to the announcement of the 2022 HRI industry budget in December 2021 and a record level of €2.5 million in funding was pledged to the point-to-point sector. This is just €100,000 below the pledged 2023 figure and some way short of the €300,000 increase that was being hailed in last month’s press release.

HRI have been able to claim this 14% increase in funding of €300,000 due to an underspend within point-to-pointing last year. In 2022 €200,000 of the pledged €2.5 million went unspent on point-to-pointing with the underspend being reallocated elsewhere.

Disparity

This disparity between the budgeted figure and actual spend has been put down to the number of cancelled fixtures.

This will undoubtedly add fuel to the fire of those who were aggrieved by the decision of the Stewards of the Irish National Hunt Steeplechase Committee not to allow the South Union committee to run their popular season ending fixture at Kinsale over the June bank holiday weekend last year.

Being able to boast a €300,000 or 14% increase to the funding for point-to-pointing is helpful at a time when HRI representatives had to field calls from the political arena to provide point-to-pointing with greater support.

These were led by Independent Wexford TD Verona Murphy and Fianna Fáil’s Cork East TD James O’Connor at a sitting of the Public Accounts Committee last September, with the latter stating: “I am getting many calls from point-to-point committees….what the committees are telling me is a huge concern. Many of them are worried about folding.”

A typical year of 100 fixtures taking place would see the increase of €500 to the grant that these committees receive costing in the region of €50,000.

HRI have confirmed that their extra funding to the sport for 2023 will be divided equally between integrity costs and the combined costs of prize money and grants.

This is broken down to give an additional €52,000 in the allocation to cover the additional prize money costs that will be required under their assumption that more fixtures will take place this year in comparison with 2022.

A further €104,000 has been allocated for hunt grants, with the remainder, and largest individual portion of HRI’s additional €300,000 of funding being set aside for integrity costs.

At a time when hunt committees are struggling with insurance pressures and rising costs, it will be tough for them to see the largest portion of the HRI increase being directed towards integrity costs when the number of horses competing is showing no sign of rising significantly.