The IHRA Breeding Committee recently reviewed the upcoming 3YO Trotting Championship 2021 and have proposed a new structure for this event for this year which will be adapted into the 4YO Championships in 2022. The two championships going forward will run in tandem going forward and will include a joint stakes payment of €1600 which will be paid over two years, and all fully nominated horses will be eligible to run in both championships
The main change of the championship is to remove the finals. The money allocated for the finals will then be added equally across all 3YO races scheduled as part of the championship.
Based on 8 horses, entering to race the total purse for a 3YO race as part of the championship will be €12,500 (€3404, €1945, €1653, €1459, €1264, €925, €925, €925) and placed horses will receive prizemoney greater than their race entry. Should 9 or more horses be entered on a race day, there will be two divisions, based on the points system, and each division will be run for equal purses.
The first two race days of the 2021 Championship will be run in line with the 2020 championship race purse and from 31st July the new format will begin.
The remaining conditions of the championship will remain in place, those being that the race distances will rotate as per the race distances for the trots on that day as per the fixture list, the points system will be 12 pts for 1st; 6 pts for 2nd; 3 pts for 3rd & each of the races will be run as PFFA based on the points earned.
The same format will then be used for the 4YO Championship in 2022 and with all future 3YO & 4YO trotting championships going forward.
This change will benefit owners, trainers and breeders as this increase in prizemoney being allocated across all race days of the championship will give a larger return to connections as well as breeders of these horses receiving a larger return from the breeder’s premium.
The IHRA envisage the demand for young trotters to grow as these horses will now race for larger purses compared with the lower graded open class horses. This will help breeders of trotters to sell their annual offspring easier. The IHRA proposes that any trotting breeding who wishes to sell their young stock, an annual sale will take place, like our aged TF sale, by ballot on a first come basis in the years to come.
This year, So Lovely Girl, stands at Moorside Stud and any owner of a TF broodmare is urged to book your mare this stallion as demand for TF yearlings will go because of this new, bold and decisive decision to change the format of our IHRA TF 3YO & 4YO Championships from 31st July 2021.
Breeders are reminded to return their foal registrations by 31st July for the IHRA office to process the breeder’s bonuses which were introduced last year and will continue as part of the IHRA’s commitment to increasing the TF breed in Ireland.
These bonuses include:
- Breeder’s Premium on Prizemoney: Breeders will receive 7.5% of all prizemoney earned by their horses in Irish competitions should they finish 1st -5th.
- Live Foal Bonus: Breeders will receive €100 for every live TF foal born in 2021. This will increase to €150 in 2022 for the breeding’s of 2021.
- Racing Mare to Broodmare: Breeders who breed Irish TF mares who have raced under IHRA rules to continue their life as a broodmare. Any mare who fits these criteria and was bred in 2020, will be entitled to an additional €100 premium in 2021 on notification of a live foal. This will increase to €150 next year.
