New-look fixture list incorporating 160 premier meetings to be published next month - but funding yet to be finalised

The BHA has yet to finalise funding for the increased prize-money needed its much-flaunted premier racedays, despite confirming a fixture list is set to be published next month containing around 160 newly minted such meetings.

The creation of an upper tier of racing in Britain has been the driving force behind discussions over the 2024 fixture list, with the sport wanting its best races and meetings to be more readily identifiable and marketable to racegoers and potential fans.

For a two-year trial period starting next year, two premier fixtures are set to be run during a protected two-hour window between 2pm and 4pm on the majority of Saturdays through the year. One further non-premier meeting will take place at the same time, with other meetings that would have previously been run during that period starting earlier or later.

The premier fixtures are set to feature enhanced prize-money as part of their upgrade, but concerns have been raised that levy and racecourse funding would be redirected from lower-grade fixtures to prop up the top end of the sport through the trial period.

Richard Wayman, the BHA’s chief operating officer, said: “You cannot have a premier fixture and then continue the same as before in terms of money. There is a combination of measures about how that extra money will be generated. 

“That includes requests to the levy and that will involve the redistribution of money from elsewhere into premier meetings, that’s part of it. But we will also be asking the Levy Board for additional prize-money support to support the strategy. That will be considered by the Levy Board at its meeting in September and that’s part of the reason we have not been able to publish the fixture list as yet. 

“With the racecourses, they are looking to invest some of their own revenues into premier fixtures. In terms of wanting to stage some of these premier fixtures they’ll be thinking about how they distribute their own budgets across the year and one would imagine there will be some redistribution from within racecourse budgets too.”

The 2024 fixture list will be published in mid-SeptemberCredit: Edward Whitaker

Wayman said the sport’s core objectives for the 2024 fixture list – creating premier meetings, upgrading racing on Sundays and making racing more competitive by culling races and amending others – were set to be delivered next month. 

Speaking at a media conference on Wednesday, Wayman said: “We’ll put out the full fixture list in mid-September including all of the details around what a premier fixture is, the prize-money values, the quality of them.

“In terms of the premier fixtures, if every racecourse had continued with its 2023 behaviour into 2024 we would have had about 115-117 fixtures that would have met the criteria. We’re looking at the moment at around 160 premier fixtures for 2024 which shows there’s a significant change in how racecourse are altering their behaviour and wanting to be part of staging premier fixtures.”

What racing’s future income might be from the levy is also set to become clearer next month, with the racing and betting industries preparing for a meeting with sports minister Stuart Andrew.

This month, the Betting & Gaming Council (BGC), a lobby group representing the majority of bookmakers, said betting companies contributed £455 million to racing through media rights payments, levy and sponsorship and was not a “bottomless pit” of financing for the sport.

Those figures were rejected by the BHA on Wednesday. Greg Swift, BHA director of communications and corporate affairs, said: “We have discussed the BGC numbers with them and we don’t agree with their analysis or accept those numbers.

“We have got a meeting imminent with the BGC but it is clear from the engagements that we have had with Department for Culture, Media and Sport officials that the government’s preferred approach to this would be for racing and betting to come up with a proposition that government can work with rather than there being a yawning chasm between racing and betting and the government having to impose a position.”

What is the progress on racing's key priorities?

Levy reform

Submissions about how the levy should be reformed were made by the BHA to government at the end of June, with discussions set to take place between racing, the betting industry and sports minister Stuart Andrew some time next month. The BHA said the government had made it clear to racing and betting that a unified approach on the levy was preferred rather than the minister having to make a determination on what the future should look like.

Richard Wayman: 20 premier Sunday fixtures in 2024 "a reasonable step up"

Sunday racing

The BHA expects there to be 20 premier Sunday fixtures in 2024, which was described by chief operating officer Richard Wayman as a “reasonable step up” from where things stand at present. Plans to run six floodlight all-weather meetings on Sundays during the first quarter of 2024 are also forecast to be a part of what happens next year.

Fixture list 

The fixture list is due to be published next month following board meetings of the BHA and Levy Board. The bulk of the fixture list is completed, according to Wayman, with only “local” issues for racecourse to be finalised. Around 300 fewer jump races and 20 fewer jumps meetings will take place next year under plans to make the remaining races more competitive.

Premierisation

The BHA outlined that there would be two tiers of racing next year: premier fixtures and others. There are set to be around 160 premier fixtures, with details of what a premier fixture is, how it is funded and how it is created revealed once the fixture list is published.

Read more:

'Is it worth setting up a racecourse to stage one fixture?' - Wetherby boss voices concerns over Flat racing 

Putting premierisation into practice is proving a tricky task 

'Bonkers is good' - Chester chief argues for Super Saturday to continue despite premierisation 

'We'll make the best of where we end up' - Cartmel ready to back premierisation moves 

'We'll push the government hard' - BHA pledge to make sure affordability checks do not hurt racing 

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