The Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation, which fosters opportunities for marginalised young people in the UK, provides mentoring, coaching, work experience opportunities, and bursaries for education and training.

Lingfield is seeking applicants aged between 16-24, from ethnically diverse backgrounds, for four entry level roles at the racecourse. Each of the roles will focus on a different aspect of the business–Business Administration, Maintenance, Hospitality and Groundskeeping. The apprenticeship programme at Lingfield is the first step in a long-term partnership which is expected to evolve to support the future needs of the wider Arena Racing Company and its 21 venues.

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Running from Sept. 14-17 in the autumn, the four-day festival will feature the final UK colts' Classic of the year–the G1 Betfred St Leger–as well as the G2 Betfred May Hill S., G2 Doncaster Cup, G2 Champagne S., and G2 Park S. Doncaster was granted city status as part of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022 which will be commemorated with the renamed Betfred City of Doncaster H., run on the final day of the four-day meeting.

Betfred boss Fred Done, said, “To have the Betfred name attached to the St Leger Festival is not just a sponsorship but a privilege. I am proud to be associated with the world's oldest Classic which is obviously synonymous with great horses like Triple Crown winner Nijinsky, Dunfermline for The Queen and Oh So Sharp for Sir Henry Cecil.”

Arena Racing Company Chief Executive, Martin Cruddace, said, “We are absolutely delighted to welcome Betfred as the headline sponsors of the St Leger Festival and of the Betfred St Leger itself.

“Fred Done and his team have long been keen supporters of British racing, and the inclusion of this historic race meeting into their sponsorship portfolio is another indication of their commitment to the sport. The whole sport is extremely fortunate to benefit from working in partnership with Fred and his team and we very much look forward to a fantastic Betfred St Leger Festival in September.”

Betfred is also the new sponsor of the G1 Betfred Derby and G1 Betfred Oaks in June.

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Four more Horses Of The Month prizes will be awarded–December, January, February, and March and April. For more information on the contest, please visit the ARC website.

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ARC will specifically support the work undertaken within the Rothschild Yard at Palace House, historic home of NHRM. Working with Retraining of Racehorses (“ROR”), NHRM utilise the facilities at the Rothschild Yard to educate the public on the work that goes into retraining Thoroughbred athletes after their racing careers are over. In addition, NHRM holds daily displays and talks for visitors.

David Thorpe, Chairman of ARC, said, “We are absolutely delighted to announce this partnership and our support of the fantastic work done by the team at NHRM. The Rothschild Yard is a tremendous facility that does an incredibly important job for British Racing in helping to showcase the aftercare that horses receive and really promoting it to the public.”

Anne-Marie Hogan, Director of NHRM, added, “Our thanks to ARC for this new partnership, which will allow us to continue to promote how well British racing looks after horses after their racing careers have finished.”

For more information regarding NHRM, please visit their website.

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The Racing Post reported on Monday that the BHA, in consultation with its fixtures and funding group comprised by racing's stakeholders, is working on a proposal to reduce the 2023 fixture list by around 300 races. To put that in context, a total of 10,354 races were run in Britain in 2021.

It is hardly surprising that such measures are being considered given the notably small field sizes of late, with an average just fractionally above eight runners per race run for the first four months of 2022. Indeed, last season a number of 2-year-old races were cut from the programme in response to a smaller number of juveniles in training than had been anticipated.

Representative bodies for trainers and jockeys–the National Trainers Federation  and Professional Jockeys Association respectively–have reported that their members are largely in favour of the proposed reduction, while the Racehorse Owners Association chief executive Charlie Liverton is reserving judgement until the analysis of the fixtures and funding group has been completed.

The proposal, which is by no means set in stone at this stage, has also found favour with Nevin Truesdale, chief executive of the Jockey Club, which owns 15 racecourses, including Newmarket, Cheltenham and Sandown. But his comment to the Racing Post that “anyone with the best long-term interests of our sport at heart can see that some form of action needs to be taken” provoked a heated exchange of views with his opposite number at Arena Racing Company (ARC), Martin Cruddace, who countered that the BHA proposal could cost the sport up to £4 million in lost revenue.

“The changes would come in at the start of 2023 but the fixture process for next year starts soon. We have a few more weeks to come to a final decision,” said the BHA's chief operating officer Richard Wayman

“We want a race programme that is better matched to the horse population. There are times of the year when the programme doesn't service the population very well. So this proposal identifies the times of the year when there are particular issues. For example, we are not going to start messing about with the autumn when there are loads of horses to run on the Flat. This is a targeted approach, and what would happen is that the number of programmed races would be reduced during a particular period. It isn't every fixture–it would only be at meetings where the prize-money is £100,000 or less–and the racecourse, in consultation with the BHA, would decide which race to drop, say from a seven-race card to make it a six-race card. The suggestion that this is targeting the lower-grade races is erroneous. It could actually be the Class 3 race on a particular card that is struggling to attract runners.”

Wayman was also keen to stress the potential flexibility the proposal would give the race planners.

He added, “What has got slightly lost in the coverage is that alongside the removal of races at particular times of the year, we are proposing to introduce a more liberal divisions policy, so that if the demand is there we will divide more races. We're trying to be responsible with the race programme by cutting it back where there's too much racing, but at the same time recognising that we can respond when there is large demand for certain types of races.”

While on the surface the prospect of fewer races suggests fewer opportunities for jockeys, the bigger problem–for racecourses, punters and riders–is that which is presented by the current small field sizes.

The PJA's interim chief executive Dale Gibson explained, “This is a hot topic in the weighing-room at the moment. The overall opinion is that the riders support the proposal. We did see some trimming last summer of some 70-odd 2-year-old races.

“Personally, I fear for field sizes during those pinch points in the summer if we had a very dry spell when there are so many meetings. Especially if you are travelling a long way to a meeting  and owners and trainers have to look at the whole economics of it–rising fuel costs and staff costs.”

He added, “The riders feel we have to do something now for next year, and it will not just be a case of cutting Class 5 or 6 races, there has to be a balance. The problem of small field sizes is high on the PJA agenda.”

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence of a depletion of British-trained horses in the rating band of 70 to 100, with demand from overseas buyers being high, both through public auctions and private sales. Wayman says that is backed up by the BHA's figures.

“There has been a drop,” he confirms. “We know the horse population, and what it is by rating, and you can see that there has been a reduction in that middle- to upper-tier horse. The bottom is generally pretty robust at the moment, and so is the very top, but that upper-middle tier is where you see the reduction. That issue has been exacerbated by the fact that we've been putting on more races for that group of horses in the last year or two. The Racing League and the Sunday Series are really focused on those Class 3 to 4 handicaps, but the hope in doing that is that owners will be encouraged to keep hold of that level of horse.”

Owner and breeder Colin Bryce is not convinced that the proposed reduction in race numbers will have a significant impact on racing's longer-term health.

“It's such a difficult issue because there are so many different interest groups that have different reasons for wanting or not wanting more racing,” he said. “My view is that changing race numbers is a reaction–it's not a solution to anything. For me, it returns to the whole problem of there not being enough prize-money, so there are not enough owners. Too many horses bred at lower levels are not finding owners, so breeders are not making any money. The whole system is flawed, and it all goes back to the lack of prize-money, and there's a lack of horses because of that.”

He continued, “So the reaction to that, not the solution, is to reduce the number of races. And there's probably a logical argument for that. But the breeding industry and certain elements of the Racecourse Association would probably have a different view. Cutting 300 races is just a minor, micro reaction to the issue of how racing needs to develop, and unfortunately given the governance structure of racing it is difficult to get to a point when you can implement some of these strategies.”

While the BHA's proposal hints at a more reactive approach to race programming, trainer Stuart Williams feels this could go further still.

“You have the races that we need for the programme that supports the breed–the stakes races–and they are where they are,” he said. “All the other races are dependent on what horses are available at the time, and it wouldn't be that difficult for [trainers] every month to go down a list and say which horses are available for the next three months and which are going to be off for a while. Then the BHA has a dynamic programme that they can fit around those horses.

“But the racecourses seem to go off on their own deciding that a certain race would be good to put on, not caring that there's a similar race nearby three days later. No wonder people don't turn up, or pick and choose the ones they want to run in.”

He added, “The two people who put by far the most into racing are the owners–and you can couple those with the breeders–and then the punters, and I think we are doing a pretty poor job on the whole of looking after both of their interests at the moment.”

With the fixture process for the 2023 racing programme close to commencing, Wayman indicated that consultation regarding the proposed reduction in races is ongoing and that a decision will be reached in June.

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Managing Director of ARC's Racing Division, Mark Spincer, said, “We are pleased to confirm our specific prize money investment plans for programme book one 2022 as part of the overall announcements that we made in October.

“Our flat programme throughout this time will continue to run above minimum values, and we very much look forward to introducing the new bonus for Class 5 and 6 divided races from January, alongside free entry for flat owners during February and March.  Equally, we hope that the reshaping of Good Friday, with the All-Weather Vase fixture at Lingfield Park, will give more horses an end of season target, and an excellent day out for connections.”

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Racecourse operators are concerned about both the safety of the race participants and the integrity of the betting product.

“There is no way to know where, and by whom, such broadcasts are being used,” a spokesperson for Arena Racing Company, which runs 16 horse racing courses and two greyhound tracks, told Wired. “In an environment when gambling and gambling controls are under significant scrutiny, it cannot be right that these operators dronehave such a simple way to exploit the loopholes and potentially expose the vulnerable to unlicensed routes to betting. Furthermore, it creates significant concern for all sports and live events over their ability to stage events and control their own business, into which they will have invested millions of pounds.”

The UK's Gambling Commission examined in-race wagering in September of 2016, but determined it wasn't an institutional problem for the industry: “In-play betting does not appear to generate specific additional risks to the licensing objectives as long as betting customers are sufficiently aware of their position and the respective positions of other players and the betting operators. We do not consider it necessary to intervene to prevent some players using technology to gain an advantage in terms of speed of information, provided it is clear to all players that this can be done.”

McCool argues that the advantage he gains via drone footage is part of what makes him a professional gambler.

“It's all about what edge you can get,” McCool told Wired. “You need an edge. You can't class yourself as a professional gambler if you've not got an edge. If you haven't got an edge, you're just a gambler; somebody betting on bingo and Peruvian netball.”

Read more at wired.co.uk.

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Lingfield, which previously hosted the meeting, will instead hold the new £395,000 All-Weather Vase that same day. The All-Weather Vase card, featuring six races, is for those horses who regularly compete on the all-weather circuit, but who are not rated high enough to get into the All-Weather Championships proper. The current requirement for horses to undertake three runs in order to qualify to run on Finals Day also applies to the Vase card.

Coral and MansionBet are also new partners alongside Betway for the fixtures. For more information, please visit the All-Weather Championships website.

Mark Spincer, Managing Director of ARC's Racing Division, said, “All-Weather Championships Finals Day has, over the years, become a mainstay of the Easter programme in Britain. As we saw prior to the disruption of the last two years, people want to come racing on Good Friday and we feel that Newcastle offers a real opportunity to develop the day even further. Equal to this is the popularity of the track and racing surface, as has been proved since the installation of the Tapeta in 2016. The six All-Weather Championships Finals alongside the Listed Coral Burradon S. will be a premier fixture befitting of the fantastic racing facilities that have been developed at Gosforth Park.

“We are confident that the new All-Weather Championships Vase fixture at Lingfield Park will be equally popular with racegoers and horsemen alike. There are plenty of owners and trainers who support the Championships throughout the winter, but who often don't compete on Finals Day. We wanted to make sure that we could introduce a new flagship event to cater for this cohort of horses, as a real end of season target for their winter campaigns.

“We hope that these changes, along with the other smaller amendments to the Fast-Track Qualifier programme, will mean that Season 9 continues to provide everyone concerned with a fantastic competition to follow over the course of the winter months.”

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“Having received applications from both The Jockey Club and Arena Racing Company, the BHA has approved the alternation of race times at both Kempton Park and Bath on Wednesday evening to avoid a clash with England's Euro 2020 semi-final match against Denmark,” the British Horseracing Authority said in a statement. “We wish Gareth Southgate and the England team the best of luck.”

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Alex Chesterman, founder and CEO of Cazoo, said, “We are delighted to partner with ARC on the new Cazoo St Leger Festival, home to the world's oldest Classic.”

ARC chief executive Martin Cruddace added, “We are delighted to welcome Cazoo as our new partner for the Cazoo St Leger Festival and, of course, the feature race itself.

“As an innovative and growing brand, they are a fantastic fit for what is an incredibly popular and important meeting in the race calendar.”

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