During these past months the IHRA Board of Directors has been busy in a number of development and operational areas.
The most important item has been the work being carried for the Economic Study into the Harness Racing Industry in Ireland and the potential impact this sector can have on the Irish Economy. This work is being undertaken by the independent Economic Group ‘Indecon’ and was commissioned by the Department of Agriculture on behalf of the Minister for Agriculture, Food & the Marine. The study is due to be completed during the coming days and it is anticipated the Report will be presented to the Department of Agriculture by the end of next week. The IHRA Board believe this Report will have a profound effect on the future of our sport.
During this past week the Board finalised our submission for funding under the ‘Equine Technical Support & Equine Breeding’ program. This is our second year applying for funding under this scheme. Last year the IHRA received approximately €21.000 for various projects from this initiative.
This year the IHRA has again applied for a range of projects to be funded with a big emphasis on integrity. The following is a list of funding projects which applications have been submitted for:
- Blood Gas Analysers
- Photo Finish
- Testing Stables
- New Entrants Training Course
- WTO Conference
- RDS Exhibitors Stand
This funding is available as a direct result of the IHRA becoming a ‘Passport Issuing Authority’.
With in excess of 140 passport applications submitted to date and the transfer of approximately 450 standardbred mares, stallions and race horses from STAGBI to IHRA Stud Book it is now estimated that there is somewhere in the region of a 90% compliance rate in this regard.
Friday 3rd of March will see the first ever training program undertaken by the IHRA for Stewarding. Six members of the IHRA will fly to France to under go ‘Race Day Training’ and will return on the Monday evening. The six representatives include James O’Sullivan, James Levis, Jonathon Nixon, Peter Clarke, David Sheehy and TJ O’Farrell.
All aspects of Stewarding will be covered and it’s envisaged a second training program will be organised. Anyone who would like to become involved in Stewarding should contact James Levis.
An eight day training program for Amateur Drivers to be held at Le-Trot’s training centre at Grobois south of Paris. Course details have been agreed to with the French Authorities. Curriculum subjects will include:
- Mobile Starts
- Daily Horse Training
- Breaking and Ethological Approach
- Cardio Training Usage
- Physical Effort When Training
- Horse Shoeing
- Training Methods
together with visits to a Veterinary Clinic and Vincennes.
More information will be available shortly.
On the racing front IHRA will offer in 2017 record prizemoney’s amounting to approximately €700k. This will be distributed across all tracks.
I’m sure you will agree that this truly remarkable.
Sixty-Five French Trotters have recently been purchased to compete in the lucrative ‘LeTrot’ series of races which will be worth over €420k in 2017.
There has also been plenty of activity in the sales rings in both the UK and USA for two year olds to compete in the 2017 VDM to be held in Portmarnock on the 12th & 13th of August.
The IHRA Integrity Committee is working closely with Horse Sport Ireland to ensure that our processes and the effectiveness of our Integrity testing is maximised and an update on all integrity matters will be made by this Committee before the commencement of the 2017 racing season.
A further update on all the above will be made before the end of March.
