The Irish Bloodstock Industry

Bloodstock is the business of breeding racehorses. Over the past 50 years, Ireland has to become the third biggest global producer of thoroughbred horses. This is a breed of horses, to which all racehorses belong, developed in England by crossing Arabian stallions with European mares.

It didn’t happen by accident however. While horse racing in its current form has been a sport in Ireland for three centuries, a key tax for stud fees was introduced by the Irish government in 1969. This is the money paid by a breeder in order to have his broodmare successfully impregnated by a stallion.  While the fee is between €3,000 and €6,000,  celebrity stallions can up to €50,000, or even €250,000 in the case of the elite of the Irish stallions.  This has meant that the Irish department of finance about €3 million per annum.

However, the principal activity of the Irish bloodstock industry is the sale of those horses it breeds, which in turn roughly €37 million in tax annually, employing over 25,000 people in parts of the island where there are not many other large employers.  As the world’s number three, around 10,000 foals are bred and born every year in Ireland in an industry over €330m.