'People come racing and need somewhere to stay, places to eat, and they explore the area - so the course provides enormous economic benefits'
In the second part of the series, Lee Mottershead looks at how racecourses boost Britain financially
One is chalk to the other's cheese, yet Cartmel and Doncaster serve the same purpose. They are very different racecourses in very different locations, yet both are invaluable to British racing. They are similarly important to the wider British economy.
Doncaster is urban; Cartmel could hardly be more rural. The coal mines are a thing of the past but Doncaster remains an industrial hub whose regeneration continues apace; Cartmel occupies a breathtakingly beautiful spot on the southern edge of the Lake District, Windermere to the north, stunning countryside all around. Tourists flock to the village for its famous sticky toffee pudding but also for sport because Cartmel, like Doncaster, is synonymous with racing.
Pictures of galloping horses adorn the tourism websites used to promote Cartmel and Doncaster. The reason why is simple. Racing brings in people and income. Racegoers spend money at the two tracks but also in the hotels, pubs and restaurants that benefit from fixtures like next Saturday's William Hill Lincoln and the three bank holiday racedays that will open Cartmel's new season in May.
To their local economies and the national exchequer, racing at Cartmel and Doncaster matters, just as it matters at every one of Britain's 59 courses. In recent years, some of them have carried out work that shows exactly how much of an impact they make.
The findings are hugely pertinent at a time when racing's income is being hit hard due to changes in gambling regulation proposed by the previous Conservative government and now being carried forward by a Labour administration whose wider economic moves have introduced additional financial pressure.
While already dealing with the effects of a £3 billion real terms fall in online betting turnover, racing has been confronted by inflationary price increases, wage rises and a National Insurance hike. In addition, many of the industry's rural businesses are fearful of government revisions to the rules surrounding inheritance tax.
In 2023 Cartmel commissioned a local economics, heritage and culture research company, DC Research, to assess the racecourse's economic and social impact on the economies of Cartmel, the South Lakes and Cumbria. After examining the track's potential direct, indirect and induced economic impacts based on data collated in 2022, the study found that for the year in question the net additional impact of the course in terms of gross value added was £1.74 million, with £1.4m of the total benefit going to the local Cartmel economy. The work also found that the overall gross impact would equate to 122.8 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs, worth £2.5m in gross added value. The overall gross on-site and off-site spending of racegoers was calculated at £3.82m.
"The report showed what we suspected was true and clarified our place within local tourism," says Cartmel manager Geraldine McKay.
"We have beautiful pubs and restaurants in Cartmel and they are a real reason why people come here. Those pubs and restaurants are successful but they still need us.
"I now want to spend more time ensuring we reward local businesses where we can. The report made me think I would like to make more decisions that benefit the local economy. It has made me want to work even harder to source even more things locally if they exist and are available."
Cartmel vicar Nick Devenish represents many of the village's businesses in his role supporting the Guild of Cartmel Traders.
"The racecourse plays a key role in the economic viability of Cartmel and helps to put what is only a small medieval footprint of a village on a national map," he says.
"The racing here is a really joyous event. People come for two days of racing or even a week. They need somewhere to stay and places to eat. They will come and see the village and maybe also explore the fells and countryside. The racecourse therefore provides enormous economic benefits to those of us here. I know if we didn't have the racecourse, its contribution would be sorely missed."
Devenish adds: "I remember once coming back from London and travelling on an early Saturday train as I wanted to be at the racecourse for racing at 1pm. I had never previously thought about the extent to which the racecourse attracts people. When we got to Warrington Bank Quay, so many people got on the train, and they all seemed to be coming to Cartmel.
"I always see the thousands of people who turn up at the racecourse but I was still quite surprised by what I saw on the train and it stuck in my mind. By bringing people into an area, it definitely brings great benefit to the locale. To have a racecourse in the village really is massive."
A similarly positive message comes from former National Farmers Union president Minette Batters, now a director at Salisbury.
"If you look at the racecourses across Britain, like the NFU members I represented, they are everywhere," says Batters. "They are part of the fabric of the country and a big part of the rural economy.
"We are fortunate as everything we make at Salisbury goes back into the racecourse. Sadly, the budget was very inflationary, which has meant businesses like Salisbury have looked forensically at costs. We don't want to see racecourses cutting back. A lack of investment would be the worst thing that could happen but to achieve investment you need to focus on every cost."
Batters adds: "At our last Salisbury board meeting, we looked at the hospitality and sponsorship, all of which was coming from local businesses, many of which also use the racecourse as a conference centre. The racecourse provides a unique resource for the area, as racecourses do across the country."
That is true of all tracks, regardless of whether they are situated in or around cities, towns or the countryside. When combined, Yorkshire's nine courses tick every one of those boxes, which adds to the significance of a 2020 economic impact study carried out for Go Racing In Yorkshire by the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University.
The project found the economic impact of racing in Yorkshire, including non-raceday activity, to be £300.2m, an increase of £38.6m (after adjusting for inflation) on the assessment of economic impact in a 2010 report, with racecourses responsible for £84.9m of that sum. The next greatest contributor at £64.6m was "secondary core" expenditure created in the supply chain as a result of off-course spending by racegoers and non-racing attendees at each course. In addition, the research team estimated the value of charitable work across the nine Yorkshire courses to be somewhere in the region of £1.6m to £2m.
The report also worked out that 3,628 FTE jobs in Yorkshire were directly and indirectly supported by the racing industry, an increase of 466 FTE jobs compared to the 2010 report. Over three-quarters of the jobs were deemed likely to be in rural areas. However, racing is no less relevant in places like Doncaster, whose Labour MP Sally Jameson is an enthusiastic advocate for the racecourse.
"There is no doubt this government supports horseracing and Keir Starmer has been to the St Leger himself," says Jameson, referencing the prime minister's 2024 visit.
"Doncaster is the jewel in the city's crown. The racecourse and the St Leger put our city on the map. I think at some point in their lives, everyone who lives in Doncaster goes to the races. It means a lot to people and it's also a big employer. I did a couple of shifts there myself when I was about 17."
Jameson adds: "The racecourse is good for Doncaster's economy but it does so much away from Leger week as well. Some of the summer meetings have concerts after racing that really bring in the crowds and they do so much through the year that isn't racing-related. In fact, I was elected at the racecourse as that's where the count took place.
"Like much of South Yorkshire, Doncaster has been through a lot in the last 30 years and has lost a lot of industry. The racecourse has stood firm throughout all that."
Although not represented in Yorkshire, the Jockey Club's family of racecourses contains a nationwide mix of rural and urban venues, the most urban of all being Aintree, located only six miles to the north of Liverpool city centre and home to the sport's most famous prize, the Grand National.
Research undertaken by Liverpool Business School at Liverpool John Moores University examined the total economic impact of the 2022 Randox Grand National festival, estimating it to have been £60m.
Speaking following the study's publication, authors Dr Steve Nolan, Dr Matej Christiaens, Dr Christopher Faulkner and Dr Matthew Hindmarsh said: "Our report reveals how much economic activity the Randox Grand National festival helps attract to the Liverpool city region. We find that the influx of spectators leads directly to over £40m of spending. This is a massive boost to key local sectors, particularly hospitality and entertainment, which we would not see without the pull of the festival. Nearly 50 per cent of the total economic effect is down to those who attend Grand National day."
Among Aintree's nearby communities is one that houses Jockey Club sister track Haydock, another north-west urban racecourse that plays a massive role in boosting the economy.
Conor McGinn, who had Haydock in his constituency when MP for St Helens North until the last election, also serves as a director of the racecourse. He has no doubt how much Haydock's existence helps the local area and particularly its nearest town Newton-le-Willows.
McGinn, who points out the two hotels in the town "wouldn't be there if it wasn't for the racecourse", argues racing was vital to Newton-le-Willows receiving a bumper payout in Conservative chancellor Jeremy Hunt's March 2024 budget.
He says: "As the MP who got the town deals funding for Newton-le-Willows, I know how impactful it was to have the racecourse in our corner as a key part of the local and regional economy, working hand in glove with the local authority. That got us a £20m award from the town deals fund.
"It should be a no-brainer for a government that has prioritised growth to look at racecourses like Haydock and see the huge contribution they make to the economy in a place like St Helens. Haydock brings 155,000 people a year into the borough and it has been instrumental to all of the pitches we've made to investors because it is a top-class venue staging elite sport."
So, too, is the Jockey Club's biggest economic contributor, Cheltenham, where the 2022 festival delivered an estimated total economic impact of £274m, up from around £100m when a similar project was last undertaken in 2016. Another 2022 report concluded that racing and breeding in Newmarket brought over £256m to the local economy. Research for similar reports conducted in 2014 and 2017 stated gross value added figures of £208m and £241.9m.
Jockey Club interim chief executive Charlie Boss says: "Independent reports into the Cheltenham, Grand National and Derby festivals alone put their combined economic impact at well over £300m, with the vast majority of that going into the economies local to those events. If you were to add in our other racecourses and both the raceday and non-raceday business they create, our three training centres, the National Stud and Racing Welfare, you would be looking at a vast figure in terms of the money flowing back into the communities where our sites operate, many of which are rural.
"There are further indirect benefits too; the amount of employment racecourses provide locally via racedays and events would go into the thousands in terms of full-time equivalent roles. The funds raised through the huge breadth of charitable fundraising activities at our events should be considered too, which would comfortably run into the high hundreds of thousands on an annual basis, again with the vast majority being for local causes."
Boss adds: "Racecourses can often be the biggest employers and businesses in the areas in which they operate. A focus for us is to ensure they continue to play a vital role in bringing people and investment into their localities while also being a real asset to the communities in which they sit."
In part three, available to read at 6pm on Thursday: how racing can use its economic importance to leverage government support
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Published on inRacing and the Economy
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