Last week, Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) unveiled a new series of National Hunt races set to start in January, which will explicitly exclude horses trained by Willie Mullins, Gordon Elliott, Henry De Bromhead, and Gavin Cromwell from participating.
In total, there are 60 races scheduled for 2025—including bumpers, maiden hurdles, beginners' chases, and handicap hurdles—accounting for 4% of the National Hunt racing calendar. These races will be available to all National Hunt trainers who did not achieve 50 or more wins in either of the past two seasons, effectively excluding all but the "big four."
HRI's decision is a response to the dominance of these top stables in recent seasons, aiming to create more opportunities for smaller trainers to secure victories. The hope is this move will boost these trainers' confidence to attract new owners by providing a supportive race program.
While an intervention was necessary to address the imbalance in National Hunt racing, there are questions about whether this approach is the most effective solution.
One of the key issues is the assumption that all horses from the leading trainers are of equal calibre, which is not accurate. Last season, while the prominent Mullins, Elliott, De Bromhead, and Cromwell were winning races with their top horses, they also trained a combined total of 510 horses that failed to secure a single victory.
The owners of these 510 horses will be the most impacted by this decision, as they will now be excluded from participating in the very 60 races where they might have found a better chance of recovering some of their costs, simply due to their choice of trainer.
Although this initiative may be somewhat blunt, it should still encourage 'new owners' to engage with smaller trainers. Most likely, these owners will come from existing ones who have horses with less potential that could be transferred from the big four to seek better opportunities.
It will be intriguing to observe how the next year unfolds and what effect this decision will have on field sizes for bumpers, maiden hurdles, and beginners' chases outside the new series.
Currently, many maiden hurdles attract full fields, yet only a handful of runners are truly capable or willing to win, meaning fewer runners in these races would make little difference from a betting standpoint. In contrast, the maiden hurdles within the new series could prove to be highly competitive.
Despite finishing 11 lengths behind the second-last horse and losing by a total of 22 lengths, no routine samples were taken for analysis.
Such a performance should automatically prompt an investigation by the stewards to uphold confidence in the sport as a betting entity.
The Curragh Racecourse must be particularly disheartened by the IHRB's inaction. Having finally secured a spot on the WorldPool roster, the course would want to avoid jeopardising this valuable revenue source.