Full-year statistics for 2024, released on Thursday by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), showed increases in the key metrics of attendances, commercial sponsorship and on-course betting. Attendance figures for the first six months of 2024 were 1.5% behind the corresponding period of 2023, which HRI attributed to a combination of bad weather, adverse ground conditions and an extraordinary number of rescheduled fixtures. However, the end-of-year figure of 1.24 million is up 0.5%, with strong returns from the Irish Champions Festival, Listowel Festival, Navan Racing Festival and Christmas Festivals at Leopardstown and...