Average crowds in Britain continued to increase despite competition from Olympics and Euros

Attendances at race meetings in Britain were slightly down in the third quarter of the year but the average crowd showed a slight increase, according to figures published by the Levy Board on Monday.

That continued a year-on-year trend which was evident in the data previously released for the first half of 2024.

A total of 1,606,461 racegoers visited a British racecourse in the months of July, August and September, 87,702 fewer than in the same period last year.

But there were only 383 completed fixtures in the third quarter of 2024, down from 405 the previous season, and the average crowd per meeting rose from 4,183 to 4,194.

The latest figures mean total attendance in the first nine months of the year was 3,918,422, a drop of 3.3 per cent on the 4,053,768 racegoers recorded by the same stage of 2023.

But there were only 1,076 fixtures in that period, compared with 1,121 last year, which meant the average crowd rose from 3,616 to 3,642, an increase of 0.7 per cent.

The number of meetings fell because the fixture list had been slightly reduced in 2024 and abandonments in the third quarter rose from 48 to 64.

Bad weather was cited by the Racecourse Association as it attempted to put the figures into context. It pointed to a wet July in much of the British Isles, which was followed by Storm Lilian and a cold, wet September, the third wettest in southern England since 1918.

RCA chief executive David Armstrong also highlighted marked increases in attendance at the July festival at Newmarket, Ascot’s King George weekend, Ayr’s Gold Cup meeting and Doncaster’s St Leger festival, during a summer when racing was competing for attention with the Olympics, Paralympics and European Football Championships.

“The third-quarter attendance figures are always an important metric to note due to the volume of fixtures run as the sport ramps up for the summer," he said. "There is no finer day out than a day’s racing in the British summer, although we accept this year we were competing against a significant sporting summer with the Olympics, Paralympics and Men’s Euros, plus the variable of the changeable weather.

David Armstrong: "There is no finer day out than a day’s racing in the British summer"Credit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

"Once again, I must pay tribute to ground staff across Britain’s racecourses who work in such difficult conditions and produce world-class racing surfaces. With that context, racecourses have performed well to maintain a consistent trend on attendances year on year. 

"As seen previously with our review of January-June data, the total attendances are slightly down and average attendances are slightly up. This is largely due to the number of fixtures being reduced and increased abandonments outside the sport’s control.

“I was pleased to see a number of our sport’s major events perform well over the summer, across a wide geographic range. I look forward to continuing to work with colleagues across the sport to ensure these major events are a catalyst for future growth.”

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