The British Horseracing Authority, supported by the Racecourse Association, has today launched a Code of Conduct for British racing covering sponsorship agreements with gambling companies. The Code fulfils a policy proposal for all sports set out in the Government’s 2023 Gambling White Paper and demonstrates horseracing’s commitment to ensuring all gambling activity associated with the ..read more

In this blog, Richard Wayman, Director of Racing and Betting at the BHA, analyses some of the key areas within our monthly data pack for June. Having reached the halfway point of the year, a clearer view is beginning to emerge of the effects of the various changes introduced as part of the 2024 fixture list. The impact on racecourse attendances, betting and viewing figures will take a bit longer to collate and we’ll produce a half-year report on our published targets in the coming weeks. The latest sporting data, however, is already available and makes for interesting reading. Beginning with p ..read more

Upon publication of the 2024 fixture list, the BHA introduced a two-year trial of a number of initiatives designed to maximise opportunities around our biggest fixtures and increase the public’s engagement with horseracing. To measure the effectiveness of these changes, 12 targets were agreed with the Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) and published. Reviews of these will be undertaken on a quarterly basis by the industry’s Commercial Committee prior to consideration by the BHA Board, in order to track the impact of the initiatives, and in some cases so that necessary adjustments can be appli ..read more

By Richard Wayman, BHA Director of Racing and Betting As the first element of an industry strategy that aims to promote and support the sport’s future, premierisation is a key part of the fixture list initiatives introduced on a two-year trial basis in 2024 and 2025. In a sentence, it involves making more of our biggest meetings, best horses and leading participants to encourage people to take a greater interest in racing. The concept, which is primarily targeted at new fans and also those who already engage with our sport on an occasional basis, comprises four main elements. Firstly, creating ..read more

Jane Green has had a fascinating and varied career. She’s been a secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, a senior officer aboard cruise ships and remains a prominent lecturer and broadcaster in astronomy. But horses have always been her first love and on Friday she will become the first female judge of the Oaks at Epsom in 245 years. She is one of four female judges on the British Horseracing Authority’s team and couldn’t be prouder to become the first female official to take charge of the famous race this weekend. “It is an enormous honour,” she told us. “It’s slightly scary, I thin ..read more

By Richard Wayman, BHA Director of Racing and Betting We’re now four months into the two-year trial of various fixture list initiatives that were introduced with the aim of increasing the appeal of the sport to both existing and future fans. Simply put, our strategy is to make the most of our very best fixtures to increase the public’s engagement with racing. Our approach to delivering this has been to create a new tier of Premier Racedays so that those less initiated with the fixture list can easily differentiate our headline events from everything else. With the support of the Levy Board, we ..read more

In this blog, Richard Wayman, BHA Director of Racing and Betting, analyses some of the key areas within our monthly data pack for March. With the first quarter of the year behind us, we will shortly be publishing our first more detailed review of the sport’s performance in 2024. This will include, where possible, any early indications in relation to the fixture list targets that we published last November.     In the meantime, our analysis of the latest racing data is now available and, at least when it comes to race competitiveness, this continues to show contrasting ..read more

This update is intended to inform participants about the key changes that will be delivered across Programme Book 2 (23 March – 23 June). Premier Racedays We continue to see the roll-out of Premier Racedays, which are fixtures that are run for at least £250k on the Flat (£225k Sunday) and £200K over Jumps (£180k Sunday). Higher Minimum Values will apply at Premier Racedays, where, in addition, no Flat race will be worth less than £20,000 and no Jump race less than £15,000. Programme Book 2 will see the following Premier Racedays: Date Day Racecourse Code 23/03/2024 Saturday Doncaster Flat ..read more

In the final edition of the 2024 Cheltenham Festival Handicapper’s Blog, BHA’s Andrew Mealor summarises the Grade 1 races from each division and highlights some of the key ratings from last week. Chasers The star turn of the week among the chasers was undoubtedly Galopin des Champs who continued Ireland’s stranglehold in the Festival highlight by landing back-to-back Gold Cups. He didn’t quite need to match the 179 performance he produced in 2023, with a winning figure of 174 good enough this time around, but it was still the highest-rated performance of the Festival and firmly cemented his pl ..read more

The Irish, and in particular Willie Mullins, continued their domination of the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup as Galopin des Champs retained his crown, writes BHA Handicapper Martin Greenwood. Mullins notched up his fourth win in the last six years, and achieved his second back-to-back success with the same horse in that period. Al Boum Photo was no slouch as he showed when winning the race in 2019 and 2020, but Galopin des Champs is a better animal in my opinion. He was the highest-rated horse in training going in to the race on 179, mainly based on his demolition of Bravemansgame and co in the ..read more