Over €1.5m ready to be spent at Irish sales through IRE Incentive

IRE Incentive-qualified horses carry green hip stickers at Irish sales

We are thrilled that the IRE Incentive scheme has been achieving its aim in rewarding and encouraging investment in Irish-bred stock.

ITM CEO Charles O'Neill

As the Irish yearling sales begin, Horse Racing Ireland’s IRE Incentive scheme has some headline figures to report. Since its launch in 2021, the scheme has awarded over €3,500,000 in €10,000 bonuses to the owners of Irish-bred winners of scheme races. Over 250 individual owners have won bonuses, which have so far contributed to over €10,000,000 in turnover at Irish sales. This figure for sales generated will be expected to increase markedly in the coming months as bonus-winners return to Ireland with over €1,500,000 extra in their pockets to spend on Irish-breds.

The IRE Incentive scheme awards a bonus of €10,000 to owners of Irish-bred winners of selected races across the Flat and National Hunt programmes in Ireland and Britain. The owners of each eligible winner – those carrying the (IRE) suffix and Foal Levy compliant – have until the end of the following year to spend their bonus on Irish-breds at Irish sales.

The scheme is funded by Horse Racing Ireland and managed by Irish Thoroughbred Marketing, with support from the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders' Association and the Foal Levy. A list of the IRE Incentive races and scheme terms and conditions are available on the ITM website.

ITM CEO Charles O’Neill commented: “We are thrilled that the IRE Incentive scheme has been achieving its aim in rewarding and encouraging investment in Irish-bred stock. To have such a diverse range of owners ready to reinvest as the Irish sales season gets into gear is a major boost for the Irish industry.”

Irish National Stud CEO Cathal Beale commented: “The IRE Incentive is a superb and proven scheme that has generated substantial inward investment for Ireland and increased demand for our world-class Irish-bred stock at the sales. Huge credit must go to Horse Racing Ireland, backed by the Irish government, for implementing such an effective scheme. Long may it continue.”