HORSE Racing Ireland’s ambition to grow racecourse attendances by 10% by 2028 has gotten off to a slow start as crowd numbers actually fell by 1.5% for the first six months of the year.

Bad weather and an extraordinary number of rescheduled fixtures have been put forward as contributing factors.

The vast majority of the key racing industry statistics for the first half of 2024 all show slight decreases on the corresponding period for the previous year.

Attendances at key dates including Leopardstown’s Dublin Racing Festival, Irish Grand National day at Fairyhouse and Irish Derby day at the Curragh were all up on last year. However, overall reported attendances reduced by 1.5% to 535,831. 

Although there were just 23 fewer races during the six-month period over review (less than 2% drop), the total number of runners fell by 906 (5.9%). Bad ground conditions were partially to blame but there has also been a drop of between 2% and 2.5% in the number of horses in training.

Almost 500 new racehorse owners came into the sport so far this year, but the fall in the number of horses in training suggests that a greater number of owners have left racing.

Betting turnover figures also slipped back following a recent period of growth. Total Tote betting fell by 5% and bookmaker betting dipped by 2.5%.

The cooling in bloodstock prices is also reflected in the statistics, which show turnover at public auctions down 4.3%.

Suzanne Eade, CEO of Horse Racing Ireland, said: “While the overall reduction in the number of meetings is minimal, the disruption to the fixture list, in April in particular, had a negative impact in a great number of areas. In the face of the adverse conditions, it is to the industry’s credit that the vast majority of the races lost were run off at a later date. 

“But it is clear that losing 12 of the 33 fixtures originally scheduled for April left its mark. That disruption, coming as it did as the National Hunt season was drawing to its conclusion and as the new flat term was kicking off, affected many of our figures, including entries, runners and field sizes. 

“Rescheduled fixtures do not attract the same crowd figures that might have attended on the original date. The drop in attendances in the first six months of the year would have been avoided if a number of those fixtures had gone ahead as planned. 

“Attendances at the bigger meetings held up well, a record crowd on the opening day of the Dublin Racing Festival for example led to a rise of 4% year-on-year across both days of the fixture that continues to attract considerable numbers of overseas visitors.

“It was important for Ireland to host the World Pool on two days at the Curragh in May and June. These days bring the very best of Irish racing to an audience across the globe and we certainly look forward to the World Pool returning to Leopardstown for day one of Irish Champions Festival in September.”