Sport

Horse racing has a nose in front in bid to retain state funding

Horse racing professionals and industry leaders have applauded the Deloitte report which claimed racing delivered €2.46 billion to the Irish economy and 30,000 jobs, but the decision by five racetracks to go it alone could have major repercussions for the sport

Horses and jockeys at the Punchestown Racing Festival last month. Picture: ©INPHO/Tom Maher

Horse racing amounts to “pound for pound the best money the government spends in the agriculture sector by a mile”, according to horse trainer Aidan O’Brien, while his colleague Jim Bolger defended state backing of the sport after a report claimed racing delivered €2.46 billion to the Irish economy last year.

Speaking to the Business Post, O’Brien dismissed suggestions that the Horse and Greyhound Fund benefits the rich and said that his Ballydoyle yard alone ...