Irish racing attendances grew by nearly 2% in the first half which puts the sport on target to exceed last year's record 1.43 million.
Announcing first half results Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) said despite the World Cup and some cancelled meetings due to bad weather, Irish racing attendances grew by nearly 10,000 so far in 2006, compared to the same period last year.
Tote betting rose by 2.8% to €21.4m and on-course bookmaker betting jumped 4.7% to €81.8m in the period.
HRI said prize money rose 2.6% to €24.2m, and sponsorship was up by 3.1% to €3.6m in the six months of 2006.
