British racing report 2025: good news on attendances and prize-money but betting on the sport continues to fall

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The BHA's full-term report for 2025 paints a contrasting picture across four key measures, with positive news on attendances and prize-money, while betting continues to decline and field sizes – especially outside of festivals and Saturdays – also dipped.

BHA director of racing Richard Wayman reported there was "much to celebrate", although he underlined that "the horse population continues to decline and the betting environment remains challenging". 

As reported this week by the Racecourse Association, prize-money rose by 3.5 per cent to a record £194.7m, with Wayman hailing the efforts of racecourses, owners and the Levy Board, all of whom raised their contributions. 

What else does the 2025 Racing Report reveal about the health of the sport in Britain?

Number of runners expected to decline by six to seven per cent by 2027

Both codes suffered a relapse in competitiveness after field sizes rose in 2024, with the average number of runners on the Flat down to 8.9 from 9.14, while the mean jumps field fell back from 8.49 to 7.84.

Field sizes held up at Premier fixtures. The Flat average rose to 11.02 runners per race (from 10.86) and 9.41 over jumps (from 9.22), but these gains were more than offset by declines at the more numerous core meetings that make up the bulk of the fixture list.

Average field sizes dipped in 2025Credit: Alan Crowhurst

The uneven geographical spread of rainfall was one factor, but the continued decline in the number of horses in training – 21,728 or a fall of 2.3 per cent on 2024 – played a significant role in the field-size picture. 

After stressing the efforts of racing to reverse the trend in 2026 through such initiatives as increased minimum values for black-type races and the GB pointing bonus, Wayman underlined that the subject of the number of races and meetings in next year's fixture list was an active subject of discussion, and revealed BHA modelling predicts the number of runners on British racecourses will have declined by six to seven per cent between 2024 and 2027.

Racecourse attendance back over 5 million

As first revealed by the BHA's acting chief executive Brant Dunshea in January, the number of people who went racing in Britain through the course of the year moved back to the right side of five million for the first time since 2019. 

The final total was 5.031m racegoers, up 4.8 per cent on the 2024 figure of 4.8m, while the average attendance per fixture rose by 3.6 per cent.

Marketing initiatives from individual racecourses and the £3m industry-wide "The Going is Good" advertising campaign were identified as having made a positive impact.

Betting turnover 10.3 per cent lower than in 2023

Festivals such as Cheltenham and big Saturday cards remain popular with racing punters, but overall betting on the sport declined by 4.3 per cent in 2025Credit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Wayman pointed to the changing customer base of bookmakers who have lost big-spending customers in the face of affordability checks as a key reason for much sharper declines in betting on regular meetings, while once again the Saturday and festival fixtures continue to provide an attractive betting product for smaller-staking bettors. 

Total turnover dropped year-on-year by 4.3 per cent, which means 10.3 per cent has been wiped off racing's betting balance sheet since 2023. 

Beneath the headline figure, average turnover at Premier fixtures actually rose by 1.1 per cent, whereas it declined by 8.1 per cent compared to core meetings in 2024. 

The big fixtures clearly remain popular with recreational punters, while the absence of a competing major men's football tournament ensured more summer fixtures were shown on the main ITV channel than in 2024.

Read more here:

Record prize-money in Britain in 2025 as 3.5 per cent rise produces total of £194.7 million 

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