Trainers split as Mark Johnston sounds warning over effects of fixture surfeit

Mark Johnston, Britain’s winningmost trainer, warned Britain is in danger of losing its position as a pre-eminent racing nation with prize-money spread too thinly across too many fixtures, leading to owners selling horses abroad to make the sport financially viable.

However, other trainers have reiterated that culling races from the bottom is not a solution to the fixture list puzzle and that a range of horses, and owners, need to be catered for.

Johnston’s comments come in the wake of the part-publication of the 2021 race programme and a call from professional punter Patrick Veitch in the Racing Post, in which he argued too much racing and too little quality was harming the sport as a viewing and betting spectacle.