'We need to take our share of the pain' - Goodwood boss accepts loss of Group 3s

Removing nine races from Britain's Flat Pattern and Listed programme is just the start of a bid to improve the sport, the BHA warned on Friday.

Goodwood's Supreme and March Stakes have lost their Group 3 status, as has the Legacy Cup, which takes place at Newbury.

That venue's Denford Stakes, the Buckhounds Stakes (Ascot) and Fairway Stakes (Newmarket) will no longer be Listed races, along with three contests from Windsor.

Goodwood managing director Adam Waterworth accepted the changes, which were recommended to the regulatory body by a committee that includes top trainer William Haggas.

"We had to do something and we've done what I said we'd do: take our share of the pain, which is to lose two Group 3s," Waterworth said.

Adam Waterworth: 'I think, for the greater good of the sport, we've done what we said we'd do'Credit: Edward Whitaker

"I don't think there's any debate about the March Stakes. It hasn't worked. We'd love to see more runners and I'd love to have put more prize-money in but I think it's the right thing to do. It's not working as a race.

"The Supreme Stakes, I'm genuinely disappointed about because we love that, but the committee and BHA team put the argument to us as to why, if we take that race out, it will help the seven-furlong pattern.

"Although it weakens a meeting that is really important to us, I think, for the greater good of the sport we've done what we said we'd do. Everybody should be prepared to take their share of the pain because we've got to do something."

Ruth Quinn, the BHA's director of international racing and racing development, said: "The quality and competitiveness of our Flat Pattern and Listed programme is fundamental, not just to the long-term reputation and sustainability of British racing, but also to the strength of the breed.

"Work is under way, as part of the industry's long-term strategy, to deliver substantive improvements to the way our racing is structured, presented and promoted.

"This includes continually enhancing the performance of our black-type programme under both codes, and ensuring the best horses continue to be bred, owned, trained, and raced in Britain.

"The changes to the programme for 2023 are the first of a series of measures, which aim to help address some of the immediate challenges in our black-type contests, particularly around field sizes and race competitiveness, ahead of further, more fundamental, improvements – with racecourses involved in the process from the outset – for 2024 and beyond."

Quinn added that tweaks to the jumps programme for the 2023-24 campaign would be announced before March's Cheltenham Festival.

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