Field sizes increase in February but 'too early' to determine whether pattern is emerging

Racecourse Association chief executive David Armstrong has welcomed the year-on-year increase in field sizes for February but warned it was too early to draw conclusions as to whether the competitiveness of British racing was improving.

Overall field sizes rose from 8 to 8.27 from 2022, with the all-weather increasing to 8.78 from 8.29 and jumps growing to 7.94 from 7.82. It comes after January's figures also highlighted an improvement.

While work to improve field sizes appears to be paying dividends, Armstrong said a hangover from a number of cancellations in January was also a contributing factor. Just seven meetings were lost in January and February last year, but 24 succumbed to the weather in the last two months.

"It's good news and there was an encouraging trend in January as well," said Armstrong. "But I think it's too early to be making conclusions that something's fixed and is working yet. The weather will continue to have an impact, as it always does at this time of the year, meaning we could lose fixtures. Sometimes the ground holds up very well and field sizes might come under pressure because there are no abandonments. 

"It's encouraging to see the numbers the right way. I don't get too excited about two months of data because there's plenty of time to go before we learn if we've really cracked it or not. It's good on the year-on-year but there were slightly more abandonments this year than last. They will help field sizes as horses will gather around the fixtures which go ahead. You have to be careful with those comparisons."

Some of the key races in February also featured positive field sizes. Sixteen runners, two more than in the previous year, contested the £155,000 Betfair Hurdle but the two Grade 1 races in the month, the Scilly Isles at Sandown and the Ascot Chase, attracted five and six runners respectively.

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