Bookies report increased business despite Saturday's small field sizes

Saturday's small fields did not put off punters with Betfair reporting strong interest in the main meeting at Newbury, where the presence of Bravemansgame running in a handicap provided a boost to turnover.

The worrying trend of low field sizes continued with four runners in both the Game Spirit Chase at Newbury and Kingmaker Novices' Chase at Warwick, while also at Newbury five contested the Denman Chase and 14 lined up for the Betfair Hurdle, a race with a maximum field size of 24.

But Betfair spokesman Barry Orr was happy with the trade and highlighted the increased attention caused by the rare sight of a Grade 1 winner in Bravemansgame tackling handicap company.

"We didn't see any drop-off and the figures were really good. The matched values on the exchange were really strong as was turnover on the sportsbook," Orr said on Sunday.

"The big difference to our day from a turnover point of view, especially on the sportsbook, was the Bravemansgame race. Being a handicap, it garnered a lot more interest.

"Bravemansgame was 8-11 from 10-11, so he was well supported, but they backed other horses against him and it made it a lot more competitive than him going off at 1-3 in a conditions race."

Betfair, who sponsored the seven races at Newbury, were among the bookmakers to offer enhanced each-way terms down to five places in the Betfair Hurdle, which was won by 20-1 shot Glory And Fortune.

Orr said: "Although the Betfair Hurdle only had 14 runners, because we were paying five places on the sportsbook it produced really strong turnover as well.

"Overall, although we were down on numbers, the Super Saturday card was really strong in comparison to previous years."

Glory And Fortune clears the last on his way to winning the Betfair HurdleCredit: Alan Crowhurst

While expressing concerns about the wider issue of small fields, Ladbrokes Coral PR director Simon Clare was equally positive about business on Saturday.

He said: "There is certainly no reason to panic or send out distress signals, as betting turnover on Saturday was very healthy, despite some smaller fields than is ideal dotted around the three jump meetings," he said.

"The main Graded feature races, the Game Spirit, Denman and Kingmaker, always attract between three and six runners, and this is part of a wider issue currently being looked at by racing.

"There are simply too many opportunities for the best jump horses in Britain and that might be best addressed by putting more money into fewer opportunities to increase competition at this level and properly reward it.

"But leaving that macro-issue aside, it shouldn’t distract from the fact that on Saturday these three Graded races were all strong, high-performing small-field betting contests, which has not often been the case in previous years."

Field sizes have been a thorn in the side of racing for a number of months and February has been no different, with the average field size of all jumps and Flat races in Britain in the first ten days of the month totalling 7.92, which is the lowest since 2014 and third lowest this century.

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The Front Runner is our latest email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, a four-time Racing Reporter of the Year award winner, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday