Trainers welcome new scheme, which benefitted 90 individual owners in its first year and helped generate €4.7m in sales – as Nancy Sexton reports
Ireland: It may have been hard to envisage at the time but some good for the industry did ultimately come out of Covid. The IRE Incentive Scheme, whereby a qualified winning horse can earn connections a €10,000 sales voucher, is one such development and as such has been embraced across the industry.
Part of the initiative’s success lies in its simplicity and extensive reach. Launched in early 2021 in a collaborative effort between Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), Irish Thoroughbred Marketing (ITM) and the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association (ITBA) and funded by HRI, the scheme awards a sales voucher of €10,000 to the owners of Irish-bred winners of selected races.
‘Selected races’ could imply that the qualifying pool is restricted and therefore harder to win. Yet nothing could be further from the truth; earlier this year, it was expanded to include over 200 races and covers both Flat and National Hunt programmes in Ireland and Britain.
Indeed, scheme races in Ireland consist of two-year-old fillies’ maidens, two-year-old auction maidens and median auction races, three-year-old median auction maidens and National Hunt auction races. Meanwhile, those in Britain include maidens for all sexes, novice races, and fillies’ Listed races.
To ensure eligibility, the horse must carry the (IRE) suffix – in other words, be Irish-
bred – and be Foal Levy compliant. They can be easily identified at the sales by a green ‘IRE incentive’ hip sticker.
In return, any winning owners receive a €10,000 sales voucher to spend on Irish-breds at an Irish auction of their choice, provided it is used by the end of the following year.
The scheme has certainly hit the ground running. In its first year, 90 individual winning owners benefitted as over €1m was paid out. According to ITM, which manages the scheme, that in turn has generated €4.7m in sales to date.
This year, however, promises to be even more extensive. Up until the end of August, there had been over 100 qualifying winners, many of whom are likely to take the opportunity to redeem their sales vouchers at the upcoming yearling sales.
"The IRE Incentive scheme has been a major success since its inception in 2021,” says ITM CEO Charles O’Neill. “The IRE suffix is always a stamp of quality and now offers buyers the opportunity to increase their returns by running for €10,000 Irish sales vouchers.
"At a time when prize-money is a significant industry question, this can be a very welcome boost. Having awarded over €1m to the owners of Irish-breds in its first year 2021, the scheme has had a notable multiplier effect at the sales, resulting in over €4.7m in sales. The IRE Incentive is proving that it pays to buy Irish and we anticipate many more vouchers being invested at the upcoming Irish yearling sales."
Freddy Tylicki was one agent to take advantage of the scheme last autumn by redeeming his voucher at the Goffs Orby Sale on behalf of owner Steve Bradley. “€10,000 is a good figure, for some people a lot of money,” he says.
“It gives your client more encouragement to come back to the sales and go again and then encourages them to go for the horse they really want. You’re able to go and bid two, three times more and try and secure the one you really want because you have €10,000 up your sleeve. It gives people a real chance.”
Middleham Park Racing, meanwhile, will have more than €10,000 ‘up their sleeve’ when they go shopping at the upcoming yearling sales. Britain’s leading syndicate has plundered multiple qualifying races this year, meaning they will have significant additional funds to reinvest in Irish- breds at Irish sales.
“We’re on board with any of these initiatives,” says Tom Palin of Middleham Park Racing. “I remember the Racing Post Yearling bonus when it was running. That was great and when that went, it left a bit of a hole. Prize-money, as we know, is not self-sufficient and while the bonuses don’t rectify the problem, they do go a long way. And this one is a big help.”
One high-profile voucher winner is one of the syndicate’s stars in The Platinum Queen. Bred by Tally-Ho Stud, the daughter of Cotai Glory was purchased by Middleham Park Racing alongside her trainer Richard Fahey for 57,000gns as a Tattersalls Guineas Sale breezer and after winning on debut at Ripon, went on to an IRE Incentive race at York.
Next time out at Goodwood she broke the 5f track record and so connections took the bold decision to stump up the supplementary fee to pitch her in against older horses in the G1 Nunthorpe Stakes; and it nearly came off, with the filly running an excellent second under Hollie Doyle to the five-year-old mare Highfield Princess.
“We’ve won vouchers with The Platinum Queen and another filly we have called Coralillo won one for us at Fairyhouse,” says Palin. “It’s a fantastic initiative. It’s the type of scheme that we like to fully get behind and we doff our caps to whoever came up with them, and to those who support them.”
The Platinum Queen’s trainer Richard Fahey is in agreement. Few trainers are likely to buy as many yearlings this season as Fahey, and at all levels of the market.
“Anything that helps support the industry, as this does, deserves to be applauded,” says the Musley Bank handler. “We’ve been lucky enough to win several IRE incentive races this year and come the yearling sales, it’s nice for owners to know that they have that extra €10,000 to work with.”
Of course, on the other side of the coin is the fact that this is a scheme that also aids its share of vendors. Upon its launch in 2021, HRI outlined how it had been designed to ‘stimulate and fortify Irish Thoroughbred breeding, racing and sales’. Impressive auction prices will always attract the headlines but plenty of vendors will also have middle- to lower-market horses to move on.
That’s not to say that some gems won’t be among them but even so, those tasked with selling such horses will be quick to tell you of the challenges involved.
“This scheme was devised as a trade stimulant, and the beauty of it is that it benefits as many people as possible,” says ITBA chairperson Cathy Grassick.
“It is the result of a lot of hard work and collaboration between HRI, the ITBA and ITM to come up with a benefit to both the racing and breeding industries. A lot of credit has to go to my predecessor, John McEnery, who put a lot of work into it, and to ITBA CEO Shane O’Dwyer.
“It was also hugely supported by Suzanne Eade [now chief executive of HRI]. It was understood how difficult it had been for breeders off the back of Covid and Brexit - when Covid was at its worst, Ireland didn’t have any live yearling sales and so Irish breeders had to send their horses to Britain, which was hard.”
She adds: “The beauty of it is that it benefits as many people as possible. It feeds into both the racing and breeding industries, benefitting owners, trainers, agents, sales companies and also rewards the breeders who support the Foal Levy – it encompasses the whole industry.”
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