Are breeders about to be handed a lifeline by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine (DAFM)?

In recent years there have been frequent calls on the Minster to instruct Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) to channel some of the €68 million paid out each year in race prize money to the breeders of the winning horses.

As it stands, the owner of a winner gets 80% of the money, with 10% each for the trainer and jockey. The breeder, who in fairness, got their payday when they sold the horse, gets nothing except a mention on the racecard.

There may be a perception that horse breeders tend to be well-off but that is often very far from the case, unless you are operating at the very top end of the market. Last week’s sales at Goffs saw 35 per cent of horses unsold.

Now the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) Horse Project Team chair Richard Kennedy has become the latest to add his voice to the campaign to have both HRI and HSI – which runs equestrian sport set aside at least 10% of the funds allocated to them for breeders’ prize money.

Lifeblood

“Breeders are the lifeblood of both sectors, but they need support and encouragement like never before. If 10% of the prize funds for all races and high-level classes in the Olympic disciplines in Ireland was paid directly to Irish breeders, it would help them to stay in business and maintain their bloodlines,” Kennedy said.

“Thoroughbred and sport horse breeders are in every parish in the country. The Government should be doing more to support them and helping them in meeting the increased costs they are facing,” he said.

In cases where the winner is not an Irish-bred, these monies should be set aside to fund prizes for Irish breeders who have success on the international stage.

“If an Irish-bred horse wins at a high level abroad, the breeder should be eligible for a breeder’s prize. This could be funded from the monies which are unallocated due to Irish races or classes being won by foreign-bred horses,” he said.

“Awards, trophies and acknowledgments are important for breeders, but prize money would help these breeders to survive and to continue what they are doing.

“The funding being allocated by the Minister is state funding, and he’s entitled to put conditions on the funding,” he added.

Kennedy went on. “IFA makes no apology for standing up for Irish horse breeders. These are the people the Minister should be most concerned about. They are the genuine grassroots of our sector.

“We have seen other countries making progress in recent years, particularly in the National Hunt sector where French-bred horses are making a huge impact.

“The winners of the Dublin Racing Festival Grade 1 National Hunt races are a clear example of the growing trend of French-bred horses outperforming our Irish-bred horses. We need to respond to this and do more for our Irish breeders. We cannot be complacent,” he said.

Maybe the IFA is simply paying lip service to its members by issuing this statement but there is a rumour that Kennedy already has lined up a meeting with the Minister and that he will get a sympathetic hearing.