Arena boycott could still be on as Lingfield Wednesday card attracts low entries

Racing faces another possible boycott next week despite Arena Racing Company reassigning prize-money to the lower reaches of its race programme in order to unlock levy funding.

A low number of entries for Lingfield on Wednesday has raised the prospect of a proposed Arc boycott still taking place, even though the racecourse group committed itself to a temporary prize-money boost on Thursday morning.

Four races on Lingfield's Flat card were reopened on Thursday afternoon, with two of the races attracting just three entries apiece. The other two have four and seven entries.

Next Wednesday's Lingfield card

Arc-owned Fontwell also races on Wednesday and had been identified by trainers as another fixture to be avoided, but no races there have been reopened.

No new money will be committed by Arc but, by using around £235,000 to increase prize funds in lower-grade contests, it will unlock around £364,000 in levy funding it lost access to after cutting nearly £3 million from its 2019 executive prize-money contributions.

The temporary move, which was revealed by Arc in a meeting with fellow industry stakeholders, including National Trainers Federation president Ann Duffield, followed Wednesday's news that trainer Ralph Beckett had emailed more than 500 of his colleagues calling for a three-day boycott of Arc meetings next week. The BHA confirmed industry leaders had agreed a temporary deal.

However, the sense of unity was shattered when Lingfield's entries were revealed, and the NTF then issued a statement after its annual general meeting, making it clear some members were not happy with the deal.

In 2018 if the prize-money for the 771 Class 1 and Class 2 Flat races was reduced by ten per cent, and that money redistributed to the 5,253 Class 4, 5, 6 and 7 races, then those races would be allocated an estimated extra £1,180.

In a statement it said: "Trainers have informed the NTF they don't support the terms of the agreement reached last night to restore prize-money levels. In their opinion, funding for Class 4, 5 and 6 races should not be sourced from other parts of the programme.

"We've been told that trainers and owners will continue to make their own choices with regard to upcoming Arc fixtures."

Their stance was supported by Paul Struthers, chief executive of the Professional Jockeys Association.

He said: "On behalf of its members the PJA wishes to make clear it supports those individual owners and trainers who have decided, and may continue to decide, not to enter or declare horses in races that have been the subject of significant prize-money cuts, despite the obvious loss of income this causes for jockeys.

"As discussions progress on a longer term agreement we'll continue to contribute to that debate, whilst working constructively with all parties in the hope of reaching an agreement that acknowledges the actual loss of income to racecourses whilst also recognising the price horsemen and women continue to pay in servicing a fixture list that has expanded far beyond our wishes."

The BHA said that industry leaders had committed to work together, focusing on the media rights landscape and impact on racing’s revenues at their meeting on Wednesday night.

Chief executive Nick Rust said: "I'm pleased at the commitment from all to work together on this, which has to be in the long-term interests of the sport.

"We know there are difficult times ahead and a common approach is the best way to respond. I believe we can achieve that over the next four weeks if we can maintain the spirit of the agreement that we’re announcing today."

Nick Rust: 'difficult times ahead'Credit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

In a statement, Arc said: "Arc chief executive Martin Cruddace and Ann Duffield [representing the NTF] agreed Arc would fully unlock all relevant races for a period of one month while all parties continue to work towards a resolution of this issue."

The original cuts came as Arc anticipates a multi-million-pound fall in income from media rights payments as a result of predictions that thousands of betting shops will close following the government's reduction in FOBT stakes to £2 from £100.

In December Arc revealed it would be cutting its executive contributions to prize-money, consequently denying itself the opportunity to release £4.5m of levy funding for lower-grade races.

In a call for unity, Horsemen's Group chairman Philip Freedman warned that unilateral action would not benefit racing in the long term.

Philip Freedman: warned about the danger of a downturn becoming a depressionCredit: Edward Whitaker

"If everyone takes action which is economically rational for them, such as Arc cutting prize-money, such as horsemen not entering races, you can go from a downturn to a depression," he said.

"What we need to do is accept the fact that we're in a downturn in terms of income, and we need to address that - what makes sense individually is only going to make things worse for the industry as a whole.

"The issue is that, as an industry, the model we have been working on for the 2019 and 2020 fixture lists is now broken because it was predicated on levels of media rights income which aren't going to be happening.

"That means we have to look at all aspects. I know the racecourses aren't happy about horsemen saying we need to look at the fixture list. But clearly if the fixture list is based on a level of media rights payments which aren't going to exist I don't see how we can avoid looking at it. As an industry, we've got to live within our means."

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