BHA reviews horseracing betting and attendance targets before working on 2026 fixture list

The British Horseracing Authority set its performance targets last year amid a trial of new fixture initiatives.

UK.- The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has reviewed performance against its targets for betting, attendance, viewer, ownership and competitiveness. Analysing the first three quarters of the year, the report comes close to midway through a two-year trial of fixture list initiatives that were intended to increase the appeal of horseracing among customers and investors.

Targets for the year included betting turnover on 33 Saturdays with three fixtures in the protected window to outperform the other 19 Saturdays by 6 to 7 per cent. However, the body concluded that the comparison was ‘not straightforward’ owing to the differences in the number of meetings staged.

It said: “The betting companies continue to support the concept of a protected window and spreading races more evenly across the day on Saturday, and there is data available to back that up. Firstly, we have compared betting activity on those Saturdays when there were just three fixtures staged during the protected window from 2pm to 4pm, compared with all other Saturdays. 

“We have excluded the Saturday on which the Grand National takes place as that race alone heavily skews the data. It is interesting to see that the average turnover per race on those Saturdays with three fixtures between 2pm and 4pm has been 10 per cent higher compared with other Saturdays. Secondly, during the summer racing period, we’ve had six Saturdays when the fixture composition was three fixtures in the afternoon, another starting around 4pm and two in the evening. 

“There have been six other Saturdays during this period when there were four fixtures in the afternoon and two in the evening. The average turnover per fixture at the former when the protected window was in place, was 13% higher than on those Saturdays with four fixtures programmed during the afternoon.”

Other targets included stemming the decline in attendance at Premier Racedays. The target is to increase attendance by 5 to 10 per cent in 2025 when compared to 2023. However, the BHA said that attendance during the first three quarters was down by 48,400 or 2.9 per cent.

On viewership, the BHA wanted to reduce the number of clashing races on Saturday afternoons up to 5pm from over 8 per cent to 5 per cent of races. It’s come close to achieving that, with clashes up to the end of October down from 7.9 per cent to 5.7 per cent. The BHA also wanted to increase the number of horses that race in Britain.

It said: “This target is in relation to 2025 but the total number of horses that, up until the end of October, have appeared at least once on a racecourse has declined by 67, or 0.4 per cent. Splitting this between codes (and noting that some horses appear under both codes), the number of horses appearing in at least one Flat race has increased by 1.2%, whilst the number of horses running in at least one Jumps race has fallen by 3.2%.”

The BHA said the data from this year would help shape the horseracing fixture list for 2026. However, it added that it was inevitable that other factors also play a role.

It said: “Other sports and leisure industries are facing a battle to retain their customer numbers, and Racing is clearly no different. The noisy and difficult environment can make it difficult to be categoric about how different initiatives are performing.

“Whilst it is a mixed picture and clearly some significant areas of concern exist, there are also grounds for optimism when considering the data from the first nine or ten months of our trial. We’re learning lessons as we go and, as we turn our thoughts to 2026 and beyond, those will be invaluable in determining how the fixture list continues to evolve to grow the popularity of our sport for many years to come.”

New chair at the British Horseracing Association

Earlier this month, the BHA named Lord Allen of Kensington CBE as its new chairman. He will replace Joe Saumarez Smith from June 1 2025. Saumarez Smith had announced plans to retire in June.

Lord Allen has experience in the financial and commercial sectors, as well as in sports, government and media. He is chairman and trustee of the Invictus Games Foundation and played a role in London’s bid for the 2012 Olympic Games. He received his CBE for his role chairing the Manchester Commonwealth Games between 2000 and 2003.

The BHA is still seeking a new CEO to replace Julie Harrington, who will leave at the end of this year. Meanwhile, the body aims to continue pushing for reform of the UK betting levy, which helps fund the horseracing sector. Victoria Morgan, head of policy and advocacy, has raised doubts about the UK government’s plans. Writing in a blog post on the BHA’s website, Morgan said that it was still unclear how the new Labour government viewed racing’s key issues, including the betting levy and affordability checks.