The annual unveiling of racing’s fixture list has often, in recent years, been accompanied by a certain amount of hand-wringing from officials at the ruling body, which wished to cut fixtures in line with falls in income and horse population but lacked the power to do so. In a sign of how things have changed, the British Horseracing Authority now makes no apology for another increase in fixtures, taking next year’s planned total to 1,496, 14 more than this year and the most since the record of 1,503 six years ago.
The change in atmosphere is partly a reflection of recent official statistics showing that field sizes and horses in training have increased in the first half of this year compared to last, for both Flat racing and jumping. It must be hoped that that recovery is sustainable; it looks vulnerable in jump racing, whose participants fear a steady loss of potential runners to the increase in all-weather action.
This fixture list has also been compiled with at least one eye on developments in the funding racing receives from bookmakers. The BHA hopes and expects that secondary legislation will be passed requiring offshore firms to contribute to racing on level terms with British-based bookmakers, knowing which it has partially redesigned its fixtures so as to make more appeal to those who bet remotely rather than in betting shops.
Evening racing is particularly attractive to such punters, according to bookmakers consulted by the BHA, with the result that 2017 will bring, for the first time, year-round racing on Saturday nights, requiring the creation of 11 floodlit fixtures in winter. Twilight fixtures on Thursdays and Fridays will now become evening fixtures.
Those initiatives have been welcomed by firms as likely to prove betting-friendly but controversy was sparked by the BHA’s decision to consult only with those firms that have signed up to be authorised betting partners. “It just seems to be symptomatic of deteriorating relationships between the two sides,” said David Stevens, a spokesman for Coral.
“Racing’s biggest customers remain the retail bookmakers. We’re happy with the increase in Saturday nights and that the total number of fixtures has been maintained. It’s good to see an acceptance that there is an absolute correlation between the total number of fixtures and revenue. We’re happy with the result but we’re not at all happy with how they got there.”
Echoing those sentiments, David Williams of Ladbrokes said the decision to talk only to ABP firms about such an important subject was “yet another example of high-stakes politicking by the BHA”. But the BHA rejected such concerns.
“Over the years, the fixture list has been developed to cater extensively for the needs of retail bookmakers,” said its spokesman, Robin Mounsey. “These operators are also represented on an ongoing basis via the Betting Patterns Working Group. This year, we wanted to expand that consultation to include, in particular, remote betting operators who are authorised betting partners.”
Mounsey said the BHA remained “confident” that the government would deliver on its promise of a new funding mechanism for racing by April, a promise made long before the Brexit vote with the support of a chancellor and a culture secretary who are no longer in office. Much now depends on that confidence being well placed. Redrafting the fixture list to suit remote betting will make little sense if most remote betting continues to generate no income for the sport.
Significantly, this is the first fixture list drawn up since the members’ agreement signed by the BHA, horsemen and racecourses, which should mean that all sides feel their needs are catered for. However, Rupert Arnold, representing trainers, said there was concern among his members about the logistical difficulties posed by extra Saturday night racing.
“There is a degree of conflict,” Arnold said, “between the objective to improve fixture efficiency for participants with the objectives of maximising racecourse attendance and remote betting. There needs to be a mechanism for horsemen to share in the benefits of the growth strategy and to this end we have been promised discussion of a wider ranging appearance money scheme for 2018.”
He said the National Trainers Federation had been able to negotiate some changes to compensate his members for the increased pressures caused by the new fixture list. Those included a number of Sundays free of Flat racing during the first eight months of the year and a reduction in the number of Sundays with as many as three fixtures, as well as minimum prize money guarantees for the additional fixtures.
