Goodwood 'full square' behind plan to restructure British Flat racing

Goodwood managing director Adam Waterworth was not exactly short of things to do on Wednesday – but on the day the track staged the biggest race in its calendar, he was adamant Britain's best races could be bigger and better with a radical restructure.

Waterworth has been one of Peter Savill's industry heavyweights working behind the scenes on plans that aim to give British Flat racing more days in the sun by shining an even brighter light on its top performers.

It was over a year ago the Racing Post revealed former British Horseracing Board chairman Savill was leading efforts to restructure Flat racing, focusing on the top end. We now know more.

Savill has been working with a group made up of racecourses and participants, and together they have produced a lengthy document that on Monday was forwarded to the BHA.

The loose gist of the plan is to stage what would be called premier meetings, made up of premier races. These would be aimed at the Flat's upper tier performers and would be run for much more money than is currently the case, the intention being to halt the drain of British equine talent to other jurisdictions.

Former BHB chairman Peter Savill has been leading a group that aims to restructure the top end of British Flat racingCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Racecourses would have to commit to staging those high-profile cards for a designated amount of money, with the BHA handed more control of the fixture allocation process. The sport's Sunday programme would be further boosted through what would amount to an enhancement of what is currently the Sky Bet Sunday series. Crucially, as well, the changes would be implemented in time for the launch of a new ITV mainstream rights deal in 2024.

One of the courses to have been involved in the process is Goodwood, whose senior executive expressed enthusiastic backing for the Savill-led project.

"Goodwood is absolutely full square behind coming up with a way of us growing and focusing on the top end of the sport," Waterworth told the Racing Post this morning.

"The larger courses have the ability to take a longer-term view because our business model exists on the popularity of the sport overall. Betting and media rights revenue hardly covers my prize-money bill. I have to get crowds here.

"The only way we're going to solve the sport's current problems is by increasing the total amount of money – and if we can have more days like yesterday and get more people to engage with them, we certainly can grow this sport. The refreshing thing about this group is that it wasn't just made up of racecourses – and with everyone involved, including the BHA, I'm confident we can find a solution."

Part of that solution would be streamlining the programme for the most talented horses, reflecting the fact there are now fewer of them in training in Britain.

"It makes common sense to me to adapt," Waterworth emphasised. "We're running a similar sort of programme to the one we always used to but the data tells us there aren't the same number of horses at that level. I think we should focus on a smaller number of races at the top end and reward the best horses accordingly.

Waterworth, who stressed that strengthening that top end would also help the grassroots through a series of trickle-down effects, added: "I could say now that we want to have a certain number of meetings on a Saturday and Sunday but we need to base it on how many good horses we have to run in these meetings.

"It might then be that we're not racing for £250,000 per meeting in 2024 but £200,000 or £180,000 or something else, but if we don't start having the debate soon, things will look much like they do now. That wouldn't be progress."

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