Horse Racing Ireland CEO Suzanne Eade has pointed to Irish racing being “in good health” after statistics released for 2025 shows increases in racecourse attendances, on-course betting and sponsorship. There has also been an upturn in prize-money, field sizes and owner retention.

The biggest growth of all the metrics measured came in the combined value of €225.4m  for bloodstock sales at public auction, which was up by 14%.

Across 390 fixtures last year, attendances rose by 6% to an overall figure of 1.316m. The overall Tote turnover amounted to €81.3m, up on 7.2% on the previous 12 months. This figure incorporates €10.6m through the Tote on course (up by 1.9%) and €62.8m off course (up by 9.0%) on Irish pools. The World Pool betting into some of Ireland’s biggest Flat fixtures realised €7.9m in turnover, an increase of 1.3% on 2024.



“The industry figures for 2025 reveal a racing and breeding industry that performed well,” Eade said. 

“Attendances were strong, and many tracks around the country showed increased attendance figures year-on-year. The bigger festivals performed strongly, and Punchestown’s festival being up by over 15% to more than 136,000 patrons is a good example. The Irish Derby weekend at the Curragh, the Galway Races, Listowel’s Harvest meeting and Leopardstown at Christmas all posted gains as well.”

Commercial sponsorship rose by 2.9% to €7m with the Irish EBF contribution from the country’s stallion owners growing by by 6.9% to €3.1m.

Prize-money stood at €70.76m, up by 1.2% on the 2024 figure, while money won in Britain by Irish-trained horses came in at exactly £20m, down by 2% from the previous year. Throughout the rest of the world Irish-trained horses earned 35.8% more than in 2024, including notable victories at the Breeders’ Cup for Ireland’s champion trainers across both codes, Aidan O’Brien and Willie Mullins.

The average field sizes grew slightly to 11.51 runners per race, although the volume of entries slipped by 5.1%. At 33,230 he total number of runners remained virtually identical year on year. The total number of owners grew by 1.1% to 4,791 with owner retention improved by 3% to 76.2%.

Eade added, “Prize-money, betting turnover, the value of bloodstock sales and sponsorship all moved in a positive direction, too. These are indicators that our sport is in good health and that it continues to hold a broad appeal.

“Of course, there are always challenges to face, but our budget for this year seeks to address those key areas. The targets laid out in our Strategic Plan 2024-2028 are designed to enhance how all aspects of the industry perform. As we get closer to these stated aims, these improvements, we believe, will yield even stronger results in the years to come.”