Jockey Club reveals £1.5 million drop in prize-money and blames ‘significant headwinds’

Britain's leading racecourse group the Jockey Club yesterday revealed it is to cut its contribution to prize-money this year as falling attendance figures at last month's Cheltenham Festival and the continued impact of affordability checks have hit revenues.

Jockey Club chief executive Nevin Truesdale said the decision, which will result in an overall reduction of around £1.5 million in prize-money from May until the end of the year, was symptomatic of the "very, very significant financial headwinds" it is facing.

Among the consequences of the decision will be that five Jockey Club fixtures will lose Premier meeting status.

The decision was met with frustration by the Thoroughbred Group – the umbrella organisation representing owners, breeders, trainers, jockeys and stable staff – which said its own members were facing cost pressures in their businesses that would not be aided by prize-money cuts.

Jack Connor, the Thoroughbred Group’s racing and analytics executive, said: “The Thoroughbred Group is obviously disappointed with the Jockey Club’s announcement on 2024 prize-money. While the challenging trading environment is understood by our members, many of whom run businesses themselves, they will undoubtedly be frustrated to see prize-money reduced at a time when they are facing their own cost pressures. 

“We look forward to continuing to work with the industry to grow the sport and put it on a more prosperous trajectory.”

• Jockey Club prize-money cuts: why are they happening and what impact will they have? 

In January the Jockey Club said it would be making a record executive contribution of £31.8m to prize-money this year, leading to an overall total of £60.1m.

That executive contribution will now fall by around £750,000 to £31.1m, also the figure for 2023, and with consequent reductions in levy funding and entry fees overall prize-money will drop to £58.6m.  

In a communication to stakeholders about the decision, the Jockey Club said it had "considered the importance of participants at all levels of the sport when making these decisions and we have revised our prize-money levels accordingly".

Total attendance at the Cheltenham Festival in March, which is hugely important to the Jockey Club's financial year, was down by 10,600 overall.

Speaking as the Jockey Club prepares for this week's Grand National meeting at Aintree, Truesdale told the Racing Post: "We are still facing some very, very significant financial headwinds, and that has continued into 2024. Obviously, we have still got the uncertainty around our online revenues, and we can still see some of that coming through.

"We are still being impacted significantly by cost of living, and it's no secret Cheltenham is a big commercial driver every year, as is Aintree.

"It's also no secret that when we announced the crowd figures for Cheltenham they were down over the first three days. Not massively, I think it was 12,000 over the first three days, but that has a significant knock-on effect. We can see a few other trading uncertainties as well."

Aside from ticket prices, the overall cost of attending the festival including accommodation has been blamed for the falling crowd figure, and Truesdale said wider economic factors were having an impact.

He said: "This is symptomatic of the headwinds facing the whole industry, and the wider economy. We firmly believe that one of the big drivers of the Cheltenham audience was just simple affordability – yes, of our tickets, but also of the wider cost of attending the festival.

"Cheltenham is a big driver of our commercial position for any given year. Any impact there is going to be felt more keenly than pretty much anything else we do.

"The stakes are much higher when you're a percentage up or a percentage down. Therefore it really matters when it doesn't quite hit the targets we had set out, which it hasn't."

Truesdale added the Jockey Club's prize-money decision was not just down to a disappointing Cheltenham, with pressure on media rights revenues from online betting also part of the picture.

He said: "We have seen a slightly better January and February on that front, but that's all relative. We are still seeing declines in online betting turnover.

"The rate of decline has slowed, but we need to put it in context of what we've planned for."

The cuts in prize-money will begin from the start of May, although Truesdale said the Jockey Club would look to maintain the values of Group and Grade 1 races, and a number of Pattern races as well.

Five Premier meetings, at Haydock on September 28, Kempton on October 20, Carlisle on November 3, Sandown on November 10 and Exeter on November 24, will also now return to core status.

Truesdale said: "Ultimately, you are at a point if we make an active choice not to touch big Group races, which we don't want to, the July Cup, the Derby, the Dewhursts of this world, then you have to look at the handicaps and the fixtures that are on the border of Premier and core."

The Jockey Club is also looking at where it can reduce or defer expenditure in other areas, Truesdale said.

Haydock: the track's meeting on September 28 will lose Premier statusCredit: Jonathan Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

He added: "We have had to take some fairly decisive action around our cost base, not just for prize-money but for other areas too, so this is part of an overall plan to make sure the business is sustainable in the long term.

"We are still a profitable business, we are still a very strong business, but it's a responsible move at this point to make sure that business stays strong and sustainable.

"Prize-money, frankly, is one of the last things we want to reduce, and we are looking at one or two cost-base reductions in other areas too, but this is a necessary step given the headwinds we are facing."

Read these next:

Jockey Club prize-money cuts: why are they happening and what impact will they have? 

'We're not being complacent' insists Jockey Club chief after total Cheltenham Festival attendance drops by 11,000 

Jockey Club chief warns of threat to jobs and from the black market on eve of affordability checks debate 

Jockey Club pledges greater transparency over finances with its prize-money set to break £60 million in 2024  

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