SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has put its trial around the removal of small-field races on hold indefinitely after it received backlash from trainers.
The authority explained how the amount of dry weather over the past month has contributed to the reduced field sizes, and we have therefore seen an increase in the number of races which have been deleted or became at risk of deletion.
The initiative was introduced as part of the two-year industry-wide trial that included the introduction of Premier racing, and involved class four races and below attracting three or fewer runners at the 48-hour declaration stage being cancelled.
The BHA explained: “Those initiatives included the sport’s agreed focus on a two-tier approach to fixtures and premier racing, alongside significant enhancements to prize money, with the aim of encouraging ownership and the running of horses, alongside many other initiatives on both a small and large scale.”
The authority also emphasised that the decision may be kept under review for the rest of 2025.
The move was put forward as part of an industry-agreed package of measures around the fixture list and race programme, which form part of a wider two-year trial. The BHA has been looking at ways to reinvigorate racing in recent years amid declining attendees and betting turnover, which led to it being eclipsed by football as the most bet on sport in the UK in 2019.
It is yet to be seen what impact the short-term deletion smaller field races could have on betting turnover on racing. It could be expected that removal would lead to less turnover due to less fixtures and ante-post bets being returned to bettors, although the reassignment of some of the runners to other races could make some racecards more alluring and competitive to punters.
Some serious stats
The BHA has recently reported that almost 28% of races between 1 April and 11 May were contested by six or less runners – the second-highest figure in 20 years.
During the same period, the average field size over jumps was 7.82 runners, which was the lowest return since 7.71 in 2022.
The BHA attributed the trial firstly coming at such short notice to it being part of a package of measures designed to support race competitiveness with a view to improving its appeal to racing’s followers.
At this time, only six races had been deleted in 10 months and since then, the sport has had an increase in the number of deleted races, currently standing at 16.
Eight of those have come within the last two months, all over Jumps. The BHA concluded that the recent increase in rate of such cancellations has resulted in a renewed focus on this matter which has contributed to the Board’s decision.
