Hardship package of £22m revealed to help in racing's 'incredibly tough battle'

Racing faces "an incredibly tough battle" to recover from the coronarivus pandemic but took a significant step forward on Friday as a £22 million hardship fund was revealed.

With no end in sight to the lockdown on British racing that mirrors the wider nation, the funding has been made available immediately in a joint initiative between the Levy Board and the Racing Foundation.

BHA chief executive Nick Rust said the package would provide much needed short-term assistance for those hardest hit by plummeting incomes due to the suspension of racing.

A cash sum of £13.5m is being made available to racecourses with up to £8m for the sport’s participants, including for equine welfare.

Racecourses will receive £6m from the Levy Board in advance payments for raceday services to help with cashflow. The grants go towards costs incurred for regulation and integrity.

The Levy Board and the Racing Foundation will also make available a joint fund of £7.5m to racecourses with each contributing £3.75m. Loans of up to £200,000 will be available for each racecourse, although there will be a cap for racecourse groups. The loans will be paid back over four years starting in 2021.

The Racing Foundation, in conjunction with other bodies including the John Pearce Foundation which was set up in memory of the owner of Arcadian Heights and Dragon Dancer, is making up to £8m available for human and equine hardship issues.

Among the recipients will be a "Racing Relief Fund" of up to £2.5m, a jockeys support and hardship scheme of up to £900,000 and £750,000 worth of support for Racing Welfare’s hardship grants.

Rust, who is one of racing's representatives on the board of the Levy Board said: "This package of self-help funding offers some initial relief to the hard-working people, horses and businesses on whom racing relies. We know this does not solve the acute problems the industry is facing but it will provide much needed short-term assistance.

“We have an incredibly tough battle on our hands with an unprecedented collapse in income. More support will be needed and the most important way to achieve this will be through a safe resumption of racing when conditions allow. We have communicated this to government and are working hard with the other major sports to bring this about. We will be ready to resume racing and our plans are progressing with urgency."

The Levy Board has around £45m in reserves but will need to tap into that resource to help fund fixtures and costs when racing does resume. It has been spending more than £2m per month on grants but has no income coming in until racing resumes.

Levy Board chairman Paul Darling

Levy Board chairman Paul Darling said: "This is a substantial undertaking by the Levy Board in conjunction with the Racing Foundation.

"The board has agreed to make available significant sums to racecourses through a combination of measures that will meet the demand for cash in the short-term. Importantly, this approach preserves further levy funds that we know will be needed for
prize-money when racing resumes.

"It is certain that the Levy Board will have a major role at that stage and beyond. Negotiating the many challenges ahead of us all will require exceptional co-operation between every sector. Those challenges can only be met if British racing and the betting industry work in partnership and the Levy Board will play a full and active part in ensuring that this happens."

Where the money will go

£6m Advance payment to racecourses of grants for raceday services

£7.5m Loans of up to £200,000 per racecourse

£2.79m Filling the furlough and self-employed income support scheme gap to assist trainers and jockeys

£2.5m Establishment of a Racing Relief Fund

£900,000 Jockeys support and hardship scheme to help self-employed jockeys, valets and agents

£900,000 Support for British racing’s charities

£750,000 Support for Racing Welfare’s hardship grants

£104,000 Racing Industry Accident Benefit Scheme

The Racing Foundation was established in 2012 after an endowment from proceeds of the government’s sale of the Tote and has used investment income to make grants to the industry. It has around £80m at its disposal.

Racing Foundation chairman Ian Barlow said: "The trustees of the foundation agreed that during this exceptional time the organisation should not be bound by its normal endowment rules and be prepared to bring forward future years’ expenditure, while utilising some of its capital, to support the emerging needs of the sport.

"The funding requests we have received are varied and we want to take an approach which can help alleviate the immediate hardship being felt by the sport’s people, horses, businesses and charities.

"Through close and continued collaboration both organisations will seek to meet the immediate hardship needs presented to us and ensure necessary funds are in place to commence racing and support the sport in the months ahead."

Another 847 people have died from the coronavirus in UK hospitals, taking the nationwide total beyond 14,000.

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