Need to 'maximise appeal' the driver behind culling of 20 jumps meetings from new-look fixture list

The poorest field sizes in British racing this century have been the trigger for the removal of 20 jump fixtures and 300 jumps races from the calendar next year, along with the switching of some Flat races from summer to the autumn and spring.

Last year British races averaged 8.46 runners, with 7.73 over jumps and 8.9 on the Flat. More than 18 per cent of races had five runners or fewer, rising to more than 28 per cent over jumps.

BHA chief operating officer Richard Wayman said: "It is essential that the core product, comprising around 88 per cent of the fixture list, is shaped in a way that maximises its appeal to existing customers. Moreover, while Premier racedays are viewed as a way to encourage engagement with new customers – both on and off-course – it is the aim that once new customers develop an interest in racing, their engagement will extend across the wider sport.

"Without doubt, the most significant development in the core segment of the sport is in the form of changes in race volume across the year, driven by data-driven target field sizes, which should deliver a much more consistently competitive and appealing product for the sport’s customers."

A number of other initiatives will also be introduced to help meet these targets, including a blank race in the programmes at around 100 meetings with the exact conditions to be decided ten to 14 days prior based on data and trainer input. Races with eight or fewer runners at the entry stage will be reopened for two hours, Class 4 and below handicaps with three or fewer declarations will be cancelled and entries taken from scratch when major races are rescheduled at an alternative venue.  

There is also a move to try to increase the number of divided races, with the prize-money threshold increased to £15,000. At Flat Premier fixtures a race run at the minimum £20,000 value would also be eligible for division.

The fixture list also included several concessions with participant wellbeing in mind, while the newly created Industry People Board, funded by the Levy Board and the Racing Foundation, develops a long-term strategy in the coming months for racing's workforce. 

The five-day Flat break in March has been scaled back to a blank Sunday followed by two days of rider restricted meetings, to focus assistance for riders through the core months of May to September. On 18 days across the five months a combination of a day with no Flat racing, a day with no Flat racing in the north – or the south – and a day with no more than two meetings when all Flat meetings would be rider-restricted will be implemented. The eight-day Flat break in November remains. 

Over jumps the six-day end-of-season break is retained in April, while the summer break will be extended to 19 days from late-July to mid-August.

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