'We must not disrupt the route to progress' - Racecourse Association leadership calls for patience with industry strategy

Racecourse Association (RCA) chief executive David Armstrong has called on British racing to show patience with the sport's industry strategy and not disrupt the "route to progress".

Armstrong made the point in the racecourse trade body's 2024 Business Review published on Tuesday, in which RCA chair Wilf Walsh also said he hoped the Thoroughbred Group now understood the economic challenges facing tracks following calls for transparency from his members.

Changes to the fixture list, including the introduction of Premier meetings as part of a two-year trial, have been the most noticeable results of the work British racing has done on its industry strategy.

However, there has been criticism of the way Premier racing has been introduced and marketed, while it has been met with scepticism by racecourses, such as Chester, that have had meetings moved from prime slots as part of the changes.

Racecourse Association chief executive David Armstrong: "Naturally with any major change there are challenges and concerns."Credit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Armstrong said the sport's leaders believed the new fixture structure would enhance field sizes, increase prize-money and develop new betting opportunities, "the sum of which will almost certainly result in a healthier sport and increased engagement from supporters".

He added of the strategy: "Naturally, with any major change, there are challenges and concerns. I empathise fully with these fair observations. However, we must resist the temptation to react too quickly and potentially disrupt what stakeholders agreed was the route to progress."

Walsh said that in finalising the industry strategy and the two-year trial programme, the sport did so "knowing that each stakeholder, especially racecourses, would be making concessions in order to reverse decline and ultimately grow the sport we are all deeply invested in".

He acknowledged that the sport's stakeholders had their own opinions and that their own businesses would be their priority, but added: "The challenge is to ensure that we don’t just use that narrow, myopic lens but take a broader strategic perspective to ensure that we all prosper in the long term."

There have been calls for Britain's racecourses to be more open about their income from sources such as media rights, with BHA chief executive Julie Harrington last year saying that transparency on how money flows through the sport was a subject that needed to be addressed. 

Wilf Walsh: "We are in the entertainment business."

Walsh argued that racecourses were the subject of a lot of unjustified criticism and noted that transparency had been mentioned as "a vital component as we all strive to support the sport’s strategic agenda and navigate our way through this two-year trial".

He said: "We hope that the Thoroughbred Group, having had extensive meetings with a broad range of racecourses, better understand the challenges of the operating model, especially in the teeth of a continuing cost of living crisis with significant pressure on consumer discretionary spend. 

"Like all participants in our sport, racecourses are dealing with an increasing cost base, people recruitment challenges, as well as capital expenditure demands, while all the time remembering that we are in the entertainment business and need to deliver an experience that people love, want to repeat and recommend."

Armstrong had also been among the racing figures involved in talks with bookmakers over levy reform, discussions which came to an abrupt halt when the general election was called in May.

He said: "Prior to the announcement of the election, I was part of the sport’s negotiating team which agreed what we believed was a progressive and fair deal for all parties, recognising the value of British horseracing both now and in the future. We look forward to working with the Labour government to continue this important work."

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