Newly-filed accounts for the venue confirm that the loans converted into equity included a €9m loan that had been provided by Horse Racing Ireland to help fund the redevelopment of the racecourse.
In September 2022, the chief executive of Horse Racing Ireland, Suzanne Eade, confirmed that the €9m loan would be converted to equity in 2024.
But the time it was converted, the total owed to Horse Racing Ireland, including interest, was almost €9.8m.
The other shareholders in the racecourse converted €10m of loans.
Apart from Mr Magnier and Mr McManus, the other shareholders include the Aga Khan, who owns Gilltown Stud in Co Kildare; Swiss billionaire and Moyglare Stud owner Eva Maria Bucher-Haefner; and British businessman Michael Tabor, who is a partner in Mr Magnier’s Coolmore Stud.
The Curragh Racecourse was redeveloped at a cost of about €82m. Horse Racing Ireland – a semi-state company – provided €36m of the funds. The redeveloped facilities opened in 2019.
The latest set of accounts for Curragh Racecourse Ltd show that its turnover rose to €11.6m last year from €10.7m in 2023. Before interest and depreciation, it posted a profit of €710,000 compared to €661,000 the year before.
However, a depreciation charge of close to €4m propelled it to an operating loss of €3.1m compared to an operating loss of €3.6m in 2023.
Of its revenue last year, €9.8m was derived from the racecourse and €1.8m from training facilities. The racecourse revenue was about €750,000 higher than in 2023.
The Curragh, as with many other racecourses, can struggle to entice racegoers. However, the company said earlier this year that its flagship Derby in June attracted 23,000 people over three days. It said that was a 9pc increase on 2024. But the final day of the festival drew just 11,200 people. That compares to the 25,000 that attended it in 2015.
Total attendance over all racing venues in the country was 1.24 million last year, virtually unchanged since 2023, according to Horse Racing Ireland.
In the first half of 2025, it said that attendance rose 7pc to 566,000. It said the Punchestown Festival was a key driver, seeing a total of 136,651 people in attendance over the five days. That was up 15pc on 2024.