Irish EBF commits to record €3.2m sponsorship for 2026 season

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The Irish European Breeders’ Fund has announced a record €3.2 million sponsorship commitment for the 2026 racing season, the largest annual contribution in its history.

Funded by voluntary contributions from Irish stallion farms, the investment represents a 100 per cent increase on Irish EBF funding levels compared with a decade ago. The funding will support prize money across Flat and National Hunt racing and will operate alongside increases pledged by Horse Racing Ireland, owners and racecourses under a three-year industry prize-money strategy.

Irish EBF will attach EBF conditions to almost 500 races in 2026. Since its foundation in 1983, the organisation’s total contribution to Irish racing and breeding has exceeded €66 million.

In Flat racing, all Irish EBF two-year-old maidens will carry a minimum prize fund of €22,000. Races in the Irish EBF two-year-old Auction Series will increase to a €25,000 minimum, with the Auction Series Final at Naas in October again targeting €120,000. The Median Sires Series will continue at a €25,000 minimum per race, including the €200,000 Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes on August Bank Holiday Monday.

The Smullen Series, which honours the late Pat Smullen, will maintain €25,000 minimum prize-money for its two- and three-year-old races, culminating in the €200,000 Gowran Classic on the June bank holiday Monday. A new Birdcatcher Nursery Series will also be introduced to support the nursery handicap programme, leading into the Birdcatcher Premier Nursery in October.

In the National Hunt sphere, the Connolly’s Red Mills Irish EBF Auction Hurdle Series will expand in 2026 with additional races and broader eligibility. The series will no longer be confined to store-bought horses and will include horses purchased at all ages, while homebreds will be eligible based on their sire’s median price.

The Irish EBF Academy Hurdle Series will also expand for the 2026/2027 season following its initial seven-race programme, which delivered early on-track and sales success. The series is designed to encourage earlier development of National Hunt three-year-olds and provide a platform ahead of their progression into the main National Hunt programme.

Joe Foley, Irish EBF chairman, said: “It is very encouraging to see HRI prioritising prize money for 2026 and the Irish EBF Governors are delighted to play their part by committing a record €3.2 million to the Irish prize-money fund this year. We welcome HRI's ambitious three-year plan to achieve increased prize money levels and to ensure its success, we look to Minister Martin Heydon and his Department to provide the vital extra funding required to sustain Ireland’s world-leading bloodstock and racing industry.”

Jonathan Mullin, Horse Racing Ireland, director of racing, added: “From the very outset of planning around a three-year prize money strategy for Irish racing, the Irish EBF were enthusiastic supporters and contributors, which tallies with their generous support towards prize money levels in Ireland for many decades. 

"The 2026 contribution from the Irish EBF is a record €3.2m and will target strong minimum values in a wide category of two-year-old races, including a new series of enhanced nursery races, as well as planned expansions in the Auction and Academy hurdle categories. The Irish EBF’s contribution to prize-money comes from voluntary contributions from stallion farms all over Ireland and Horse Racing Ireland is hugely appreciative of this long-standing investment.”

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