Presentation to the Darley Flying Start Conference at Keadeen Hotel, Newbridge, Ireland
October 25th 2006

William Rainbow

First Impressions of the Irish Breeding and Racing Industries

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. My name is William Rainbow and I am from Ocala, Florida. Today I will be delivering a presentation about my first impressions of the Irish breeding and racing industries. These include everything from my musings about the statistics of the leading sires list, the subtle differences in bidding increment styles at Goffs, to commiseration about the quality of the spectator facilities at the Irish racetracks.

First of all, I must say that I am quite impressed with how integral thoroughbred racing is to the Irish culture. I was aware of Ireland’s rich racing heritage that included steeplechase, hurdles, point-to-point, and flat racing, but I had no idea of the amount of interest from all sections of the Irish demographic. In 2005, just over 1.4 million attendances were recorded at Irish racetracks. This is quite spectacular considering that the population of Ireland is only just over 4 million. The Irish keep up with horseracing as a way to maintain their strong ties to their rural heritage. For this reason, racing news is common in mainstream media outlets. Furthermore, as Ireland’s economy continues to boom, new people are buying racehorses. In 2005, 969 new owners were registered and now contribute to the prosperity of the Irish thoroughbred industry.

The success of the Irish thoroughbred industry lies in its strength as first class breeding and racing programs. I was unaware of the magnitude of Ireland’s breeding capacity and the importance of it as an export market. It is in fact the world’s third largest producer of foals and exports a large percentage of young horses. While America is the leading producer of thoroughbred foals, the export market is not as important as the domestic market. Andrew Birch will give his talk comparing the Irish and New Zealand export markets, so I won’t delve too far into his territory, but later I will bring up a few points that relate to the effects of the export market on Irish breeding and racing.

One of the first differences that struck me upon starting my studies in Ireland was the dominance of Coolmore in the leading sire lists. If you look at the top 15 stallions currently standing in Ireland by earnings throughout Europe, Coolmore stands 8 of them. No other stud even comes close! I don’t believe that Coolmore has a monopoly on the stallion market because there are other stud farms with well bred, successful, and reasonably priced stallions, but they are relatively unchallenged at the top of the sire list and set the pace of high-end stud fees.

Another one of the most striking observations of the Irish breeding industry is the differences in nominations contracts. In Ireland, there is one general type of breeding contract that stipulates that the stud fee is due on October 1st if the mare is still in foal. In America, there are two common types of contracts: ‘Live Foal’ and ‘No Guarantee.’ A ‘Live Foal’ contract may have the stud fee due in the fall or sometime after the foal is born, but if the mare doesn’t produce a foal that can stand and nurse, then the stud fee will not have to be paid or refunded if it has already been paid. On the other hand, a ‘No Guarantee’ stud fee is generally paid up front and costs less than the advertised stud fee. If the mare does not produce a foal, the stallion owners have no responsibility to refund the stud fee. Obviously there are many variations on these three types of contracts that may include more or less flexibility in payment or refund schemes depending on the importance of the mare owner and the goodwill of the stallion owner. 

After breeding and before racing, fall the sales. One of the most exciting and innovative ideas I have seen is the Goffs Millions Sale and Race. I think that it is a fantastic way to attract people into thoroughbred ownership. Buyers at the 2006 sale know that they have at least a 1:255 chance of winning a million dollars in 2007. From the buyer’s point of view, it decreases the risk associated with the buying process because there is a restricted million dollar race for all graduates. With less risk, the buyer’s can more comfortably spend a few more Euro leading to increased profits for the breeders and the sales company that can then be reinvested back into the industry.

At Goffs Millions yearling sale, I was able to work with a bloodstock agent and learn more about the ins and outs of Irish sales. Generally speaking, much more emphasis is placed on how the horse walks whereas American buyers typically put more emphasis on conformation. However very particular attention is paid to a horse’s pasterns since turf conditions can very widely in firmness throughout the year. I think that since the vast majority of buyers at yearling sales or buying to race and not to pinhook, they want an animal that moves like a champion even though it might not have flawless conformation. In America, the 2 year-old pinhookers drive up the yearling prices, but they generally only purchase horses with great conformation for resale.

First off, I noticed that many buyers do not bother with the vetting process due to the cost and the quality of information that they receive back. I overheard one trainer saying that he hadn’t vetted any of the 18 yearlings he had bought at one of the yearling sales. For those that do still go through and vet a horse, the vetting process is much different in Ireland than America. For example, there is no repository where all of the x-rays are kept under lock and key. Additionally, the resting heart rate of the horse is seen as an important trait. In the end, the veterinary exam results are often overlooked by the prospective bidder. For example, if a horse has OCD, but still walks well, that does not seem to discourage bidders at Irish yearling sales as much as it would at American yearling sales. 

I was surprised to see a difference in the style of auctioneering and bidding. At the Goffs Millions Sale, horses took a much longer time to go through the ring than in comparable American sales. The auctioneers work very hard to make sure that the underbidder is definitely not going to place anymore bids before they bring the hammer down. I am convinced that with their persuasive tactics they could sell a three-legged yearling as the next European champion!

My last observation of the sale has to do with bidding. I noticed that the bidding started in small increments and consistently moved to larger increments. At American sales, the increments generally start larger and become smaller. For example, if the bidding has been going in increments of $5,000, as the bidding winds down to the final two people a bidder might move down to $2,500; now onto racing.

Obviously the first thing that strikes an American visiting a racecourse in Ireland is the diversity in the tracks. Races can be run in either direction over varying terrain, around tracks with different shapes, and even out of view from spectators! I think it’s much more thrilling to watch because the horses and riders are faced with so many more variables. The relatively consistent shape, direction, and grade of American tracks remove some of the variables of the race and make it less exciting.

America does not have bookmakers. All horse race wagering goes through a pari-mutual system. Therefore, my only knowledge of “bookies” comes from the dodgy individuals portrayed in movies where someone owes somebody else a lot of money and ultimately, somebody gets there legs broken or worse! Consequently I was a bit nervous when placing my first bet with a bookmaker at the Curragh and even more nervous when I went to collect my winnings!

Betting is a much more accepted practice in Ireland than America. While we may have Las Vegas, the abundance of betting shops found in even the smallest Irish villages is proof of it as a pastime. In America, quirky state laws prohibit betting exchanges and SP shops find it hard to start and stay in business. Currently in America the religious right wing republicans and the liberal left are continually putting restrictions on gambling because they view it as a morally wrong tax on the poor. Alright, enough now of the problems in America and let’s get into the greatness of Irish racing.

The quality of racing that Ireland holds is incredible. 11.4% of Irish races are black type. Its nearest competitor in this statistic is Germany where 6% of the races are of black type quality. Furthermore, 1.5% of Irish based racehorses have international Timeform ratings over 110. The high quality of Irish racing is due to the restrictions for getting into races. Horse Racing Ireland’s goal of maintaining the highest quality racing is done by making it very hard for horses that have not won or placed well to find races. By doing this the quality of Irish racing has been able to improve. However, this leads to large demands for maiden races and consequently 20+ horses might be saddled for one race. Never before have I seen races with more than 20 runners. The biggest race I have seen in America is the Kentucky Derby which can hold up to 20 runners. Outside that race I don’t think I have seen a race with more than 14 runners. In fact, many American tracks struggle with the problem of filling race cards but Irish racing has quite the opposite problem.

The biggest growth in Irish racing is the popularity of racing festivals. While I have never been to Galway or to Punchestown I have heard fantastic stories of how exciting they are. The festival atmosphere must be incredible because these races have the highest attendances and bring in massive amounts of revenue from betting despite the fact that they have no group or listed races. The popularity of these race meets has probably led to the increase in ownership and patronage of racetracks.  People who might not be exposed to racing come to the festivals for the tourist activities and see the races and if they have a good time might patronize their local race meetings or become involved in horseracing in some other capacity. Festivals are the gateway to a full on thoroughbred addiction.

Finally, Ireland is a 1st world racing nation, but the current facilities do not suggest this. The Curragh and Leopardstown are in dire need of new and upgraded facilities to match the quality of race meets that are held there and it looks as though these dreams will be realities in the next few years as a result of grants. The design for the new Curragh looks like it will provide an incredible view of the entire facility and patrons can enjoy the racing even when the Irish weather is at its worst. It will showcase what I think is one of the best thoroughbred racing facilities in the world.

Thank you very much for your time and I look forward to entertaining any questions you might have at the end of the first session. I hope you enjoy the next eleven presentations.

 

Click here for a complete list of Oct 2006 Keaden Hotel, Ireland assignments