British Racing’s 2024 Report: How to Dress Up a Crisis as ‘Valuable Insights’

The annual racing report by the BHA—a much-anticipated document, eagerly awaited by those in the industry who enjoy watching figures plummet with the same fascination as a punter watching their last fiver disappear on a doomed outsider.

And here it is, the official verdict on 2024: A year of “learning lessons,” “identifying trends,” and “trialling initiatives,” which, when translated from corporate jargon, means “everything is on fire, but let’s act like it’s all part of the plan.”

Yes, 2024 had its highlights—chief among them, the Juddmonte International Stakes at York, which managed to momentarily distract from the slow-motion train wreck unfolding across the sport. Betting turnover is collapsing, attendances are stagnating, and the best horses are fleeing Britain faster than MPs filing their expenses before an election. But don’t worry—there’s a two-year trial in place, and with another 12 months of diligent “monitoring,” we might even get an action plan.

Premierisation: The Masterplan That Nobody Asked For

The big initiative of the year was Premierisation, which was sold to us as the future of racing—a sleek, elite-tier model designed to attract new audiences, boost revenues, and revitalise the sport.

And the result?

• Betting turnover down 6.8% year-on-year and 16.5% over two years.

• Attendances down despite a desperate effort to hype up Premier fixtures.

• Sunday evening racing—a key experiment—abandoned after a 3.6% betting increase (well short of the 15-20% target).

• Betting turnover at Premier fixtures actually fell more than at regular meetings.

If Premierisation were a horse, it would be pulled up before the first fence. But no, in classic British fashion, we’ve decided to give it more time because "learning from trials" sounds a lot better than "we got it spectacularly wrong."

Betting: Where Have All the Punters Gone?

One of the report’s more amusing themes is the insistence that declining betting turnover is largely not our fault. Instead, the BHA would like you to focus on affordability checks—a government-imposed bureaucratic nightmare that has driven more punters into the arms of black-market bookies than a Cheltenham Festival beer tent on Gold Cup Day.

This, of course, is entirely true. Forcing ordinary punters to submit bank statements and wage slips just to place a bet was always going to end in disaster. But the BHA’s suggestion that this is the only reason for racing’s betting decline is like blaming Titanic’s sinking solely on an iceberg while ignoring the captain steaming full speed ahead in the dark.

Meanwhile, the report proudly unveils groundbreaking insights about betting habits, such as:

• Big races perform better with a 10-minute build-up.

• Regular races do better with a 5-minute turnaround.

Revolutionary. Perhaps next year’s report will confirm that horses with four legs tend to run faster than those with three.

Attendance: The Great British Public Remains Unmoved

Racing authorities have spent the last decade fantasising about halting the decline in attendance. The hope was that Premierisation would stop the bleeding, and maybe even increase the number of racegoers.

The reality?

• Total attendances fell by 0.7%.

• Average attendance rose by 0.4%—a margin so small that even the most optimistic PR team struggled to spin it as a win.

• Premier raceday attendances dropped from 2,012,929 to 1,977,553, confirming that throwing money at a few big days while neglecting the rest didn’t exactly fill the grandstands.

One wonders what the next great attendance-saving scheme will be—perhaps paying people to show up and act interested? Or maybe replacing the Tote with a free drinks token?

The Great Horse Shortage: Equine Brexit Is In Full Swing

While the betting and attendance figures are grim, the real existential crisis in British racing is happening at the ownership level.

Despite a bold target to increase the number of racehorses in training by 2.5%, the actual results were:

• A 1% drop in total horses running.

• National Hunt numbers down 3%.

• Top-quality Jump horses (rated 130+) down a staggering 9%.

• Flat horses rated 85+ increased by 3.5%—but still short of the 5% target.

In simple terms, British racing isn’t just losing horses, it’s losing good horses. And where are they going? France, Ireland, Australia, the Middle East—anywhere where prize money isn’t stuck at 1990s levels.

The report makes vague noises about “addressing this issue”, which is a lovely way of saying “we don’t actually have a plan yet.”

Conclusion: 2024 Was a Year of Rearranging Deckchairs on the Titanic

This report is a fine example of modern sporting bureaucracy at its best:

• Nowhere does it outright admit that major reforms have failed—just that “lessons have been learned.”

• The betting revenue collapse is carefully spun as “slowing decline,” because even bad news can be disguised with clever phrasing.

• The Jump racing talent drain is described as a “trend to address” rather than a Category 5 emergency.

So, what now? Another year of "trialling initiatives" while hoping for a miraculous recovery? Or perhaps we could take actual action for once?

Three Simple Fixes That Would Actually Work:

1. Fix the Prize Money Problem

   • Until Britain offers competitive prize money, horses will continue to disappear overseas.

   • Redirect more levy funds towards grassroots and mid-tier racing, instead of pouring everything into the “Premier” illusion.

2. Overhaul Affordability Checks or offer a Supportable alternative

   • Make them targeted at actual problem gamblers, rather than applying a blanket policy that’s only succeeding in growing the unregulated market.

3. Stop Appointing People Who Don’t Understand Racing

   • If the BHA and racing authorities were a football team, they’d be managed by someone who’s never seen a ball before.

   • Racing decisions should be led by horsemen, betting industry experts, and people with a proven track record of growing sport—not corporate executives with PowerPoint skills.

Until these things happen, expect next year’s report to look much the same, full of “reflections,” “insights,” and “learnings”, but little actual progress.

At least the Juddmonte International was nice, though.

And if you want to relive racing’s glory days, there’s always YouTube.