Ed Warner: Horse racing has a potent calling card – but needs urgent change

The Cheltenham Festival of 2020 will forever be remembered for non-sporting reasons. It was the super-spreader event that presaged Britain’s pandemic lockdown. 

The Festival’s spectator numbers bulged two years later as the nation’s turf-followers were set free. This euphoric return has proved short-lived. Crowds are down and horse racing is beset by fears about the appeal of its jump racing showpiece.

The numbers frame the tale: the 229,999 spectators over four days of racing was four per cent down on last year and a hefty 18 per cent lower than that post-pandemic Festival. Even stripping 2022 out as a blip, the pre-Covid attendances look a long way off. 

The horse racing media has worked itself into an analytical lather, citing small fields, too many favourites winning (not great for bookies especially), sporting dominance by a single yard (that of Willie Mullins), the cost of attending and car parks turned into muddy swamps by the rain.

Racing’s ruling establishment has, to its credit, fronted up. Take this from the British Horseracing Authority’s CEO, Julie Harrington, focusing on the risks she perceives from the preponderance of Irish-trained victors.

“The Irish domination… this week has illustrated that the issue is becoming more pronounced and more damaging for the sport on both sides of the Irish Sea.

“Put simply, the rate of decline of jump racing in Britain at the top end has outstripped the measures that have been put in place to tackle it.” Julie Harrington, BHA CEO

Many on the other side of the Irish Sea may well beg to differ.

Recently a reader messaged me to suggest I take a look at racing’s travails. “How about writing on horse racing and (feeble) prize money (see Frankie Dettori’s comment that he wouldn’t choose the UK if he was starting as a jockey today)? No, I am not an owner,” they said.

Harrington cites increased prize money as just one (necessary) factor in the revitalisation of the sport. Racing must bin its self-interest and reluctance to change in order to improve the experience of owners and fans, she says. 

Sounds like a complete overhaul to me, and not before time given the typical race-day experience increasingly feels like a period piece. There’s nowt wrong with cherishing any sport’s heritage, but nostalgia is a difficult sell to outsiders, especially younger generations.

“Thirty years ago when I did it, it was different, but now the world of racing has passed us 10-fold. I’d go to America or Australia.”  Frankie Dettori

Increased prize money won’t be conjured from thin air. Dwindling audiences from much thinner TV coverage, coupled with lower live attendances, won’t ignite sponsor interest. Betting companies are only likely to dig so far into their own pockets, especially given the growing volumes they are enjoying in other sports markets.

This, then, must be a multi-year process of regeneration. One wonders whether racing has the luxury of the necessary time, or whether it will inexorably go the way of so many pastimes of yesteryear – an annual, occasional curiosity whose core has been eaten away by entertainment rivals with more money and/or fresher appeal.

Racing is obviously not alone in struggling to restore spectator growth after the pandemic. This week the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions announced aggregate visitor numbers across 374 sites were up 19 per cent year-on-year in 2023, to 147m, but still down 11 per cent on 2019.

There’s no jeopardy in visiting the British Museum or Edinburgh Castle, say, although some attractions may struggle with boggy car parks at times. Sport, well structured and packaged, has the extra dimension of uncertainty that a museum or country pile can never offer. 

That won’t be appealing to those who want predictability in their leisure time, but is a potent calling card for the many of us prepared to pay for the thrill of the uncertain. 

Horse racing has this as its very essence. It needs to cherish this asset but challenge every other element of its offering. Urgently.

Tickets for Cheltenham Festival 2025 are now on sale. Daily prices range from £37 to £2,120 with hospitality. You can read Julie Harrington’s views in greater detail in the Irish Examiner here.

I’ll take the high road

At 374th and last on ALVA’s table of 2023 visitor numbers is Moirlanich Longhouse in Stirlingshire. It opens two days a week from May to September and had a grand total of 1,052 visitors in 2023, up six per cent on the prior year. That’s about 24 people a day. 

It promises a “unique insight into rural family life in 19th-century Scotland” with features including “cruck frame, box beds and a hingin’ lum” as well as “multiple layers of early 20th-century wallpaper”. Sounds glorious. Definitely one for a future Scottish road trip.

No Bonio

You could argue that the only places that really matter in the Six Nations each year are those of the champions and the wooden spoon ‘winners’. Try telling that to Italy, though, after their best ever campaign. 

Their two wins, one draw and two defeats left them behind Scotland in fifth place. The Scots won twice and lost three times. Such is the unintended consequence of a bonus point system designed to encourage all teams to keep pushing for tries regardless of the match situation.

The solution is simple. Order the table in the traditional fashion (four points for a win, two for a draw) and only bring bonus points into play if teams are tied on that basis.

I think it’s fair to say that the sports most confident in their product don’t need to resort to scoring distortions. Rugby surely no longer needs bonus points at international level, just as cricket sees no need to disincentivise playing for a draw at Test match level. Keep things simple.

Hybrid working

Details are emerging about the powers intended for the new football regulator as its formation reaches the parliamentary stage. 

It appears that both the regulator and the operators of the professional leagues – the Premier League and EFL – will have powers to punish financial transgressions. 

Let the double jeopardy and dual punishment games begin!

Ed Warner is chair of GB Wheelchair Rugby and writes his sport column at sportinc.substack.com