The Irish horse racing industry has contracted for the first time in over 15 years due to the economic slowdown and bad weather conditions in the second half of last year, Horse Racing Ireland reported yesterday.
The most dramatic decline was in bloodstock sales at public auctions, which dropped by 43.6 per cent last year. On-course betting turnover fell by over 18 per cent with bookmakers faring worse than the Tote.
Racetrack attendance numbers were down by 9 per cent.
Brian Kavanagh, chief executive of Horse Racing Ireland said that the major festival meetings had held up “reasonably well” despite the decline in overall attendances. The fall in attendance was partly explained by the high number of race meeting cancellations due to bad weather.
There were 42 cancellations last year, compared with 12 in 2007.
