Horseracing in Great Britain

Horse racing is a popular spectator sport in Great Britain, and gambling on horseraces is the cornerstone of the British betting industry. Horse racing in Ireland is run on an All Ireland basis, so the two racecourses in Northern Ireland are not part of the British racing industry.

The two main forms of horse racing in Great Britain are unobstructed distances races, known as flat racing, and races over fences or over hurdles, known as National Hunt racing. Additionally there is another form of racing which is run on an altogether more informal and "ad hoc" basis, known as point to point racing. Point to point is a form of steeplechasing for amateur riders. It, like professional racing, is nevertheless run under the auspices of the governing and regulatory body for horse-racing in Great Britain, the British Horseracing Authority. [ [http://www.britishhorseracing.com/inside_horseracing/about/ About the British Horseracing Authority] ]

The UK has produced some of the greatest jockeys, including Sir Gordon Richards, usually considered the greatest ever jockey. There are between four and five hundred professional jockeys based in the United Kingdom. [http://www.britishhorseracing.com/inside_horseracing/racingindustry/people/jockeys.asp]

History

It is thought that the first races to take place in Britain were organised by soldiers of the Roman Empire in Yorkshire around 200 AD, although the first recorded race meeting was during the reign of Henry II at Smithfield, London in 1174 during a horse fair.

It is believed that the first occurrence of a trophy being presented to the winner of a race was in 1512 by organisers of a fair in Chester and was a small wooden ball decorated with flowers.

Early in the 16th century Henry VIII imported a large number of stallions and mares for breeding although it was not until the 17th and 18th centuries that the breeding of thoroughbreds began as we know it now.

Newmarket is known as the home of horse racing in England and James I was prominent in introducing racing there after discovering the little village in 1605 whilst out hawking or riding. He spent so much time there that the House of Commons petitioned him to concentrate more of his time on running the country. This region had a long association with horses going back to the time of Boudica and the Iceni.Around the time that Charles I of England came to the throne, Spring and Autumn race meetings were introduced to Newmarket and in 1634 the first Gold Cup event was held.

All horse racing was then banned in 1654 by Oliver Cromwell, and many horses were requisitioned by the state. Despite this Cromwell himself kept a stud running of his own.With the restoration of Charles II racing flourished and he instituted the Newmarket Town Plate in 1664, writing the rules himself:

:"Articles ordered by His Majestie to be observed by all persons that put in horses to ride for the Plate, the new round heat at Newmarket set out on the first day of October, 1664, in the 16th year of our Sovreign Lord King Charles II, which Plate is to be rid for yearly, the second Thursday in October for ever."

In the early 18th century, Queen Anne kept a large string of horses and was instrumental in the founding of Royal Ascot where the opening race each year is still called the Queen Anne Stakes. This has now stopped since the Queen Anne Stakes was elevated to Group 1 status in 2004 and therefore the Coventry Stakes is the first race on the first day of Royal Ascot.

In 1740, Parliament introduced an act "to restrain and to prevent the excessive increase in horse racing", though this was largely ignored, but in the 1752 the Jockey Club was formed to create and apply the Rules of Racing.

The Jockey Club governed the sport from 1752 until its governance role was handed to the British Horseracing Board, (formed in June 1993) and while the BHB became responsible for strategic planning, finance, politics, race planning, training and marketing, the Jockey Club continued to regulate the sport. In 2006 it formed the Horseracing Regulatory Authority to carry out the regulatory process whilst it focused on owning 13 racecourses and the gallops in Newmarket and Lambourn. In July 2007 the HRA merged with the BHB to form the British Horseracing Authority.

Former race courses

*Hurst Park Racecourse - Surrey
*Lincoln Racecourse - Lincolnshire
*Alexandra Park Racecourse
*Birmingham Racecourse
*Manchester Racecourse - Greater Manchester
* [http://picture.stockton.gov.uk/preview.aspx?id=t3240-3254&cat=Stockton%20Racecourse Teesside Park, Stockton]
*Wye Racecourse
*Lanark Racecourse
*Gatwick Racecourse
*Lewes Racecourse
*Maghull Racecourse

Key data

Key data for 2005 (2004 in brackets) extracted from the British Horseracing Board's annual reports for [http://www.britishhorseracing.com/images/inside_horseracing/media/2004_Annual_Report.pdf 2004] and [http://www.britishhorseracing.com/inside_horseracing/about/BHB_AnnualReport_2005.pdf 2005] :

*Fixtures: 1,300 (1,299)
*Races: 8,588 (8,757)
*Runners: 94,659 (92,761)
*Prize money: £99.3 million * of which flat £63.9 million and jump £35.4 million (£101.3 million of which flat £65.4 million and jump £35.9 million)
*Racegoers: 5,896,922 ** of which flat 3,704,567 and jump 2,192,435 (6,048,517 of which flat 3,873,508 and jump 2,175,009)
*Monthly average horses in training: 14,388 (13,914)
*Monthly average owners with horses in training: 9,403 (9,266) (includes joint owners)

British racing is going through a period of growth, but the Chief Executive of the BHB states in the 2005 annual report that in 2005, as in other recent years, "Success was achieved in an environment of great uncertainty." The sport is struggling to adapt to the loss of income from pre-race data following court ruling prohibiting the practice of charging for such in 2004 and 2005, to which the BHB attributes the fall in prize money in 2005. The data charges were themselves designed to replace income lost when a statutury levy was abolished. In 2004 attendances exceeded 6 million for the first time since the 1950s (2004 annual report). The decrease in 2005 is attributable to the closure of Ascot Racecourse for redevelopment for the entire year. With Ascot reopened the BHB estimates that 2006 attendances will exceed 6.5 million.

Racecourses

There are 61 established racecourses in Great Britain, plus one that is planned to open in 2009 (Ffos Las), with a further two in Northern Ireland (Down Royal and Downpatrick):
*Aintree Racecourse in Merseyside - (national hunt)
*Ascot Racecourse in Berkshire -(mixed)
*Ayr Racecourse in Ayrshire - (mixed)
*Bangor on Dee Racecourse in Wrexham - (national hunt)
*Bath Racecourse in Somerset - (flat)
*Beverley Racecourse in the East Riding of Yorkshire - (flat)
*Brighton Racecourse in East Sussex - (flat)
*Carlisle Racecourse in Cumbria - (mixed)
*Cartmel Racecourse in Cumbria - (national hunt)
*Catterick Bridge in North Yorkshire - (mixed)
*Cheltenham Racecourse in Gloucestershire - (national hunt)
*Chepstow Racecourse in Monmouthshire - (mixed)
*Chester Racecourse in Cheshire - (flat)
*Doncaster Racecourse in South Yorkshire - (mixed)
*Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey - (flat)
*Exeter Racecourse in Devon - (national hunt)
*Fakenham Racecourse in Norfolk - (national hunt)
*Ffos Las Racecourse in Carmarthenshire - (mixed) (opens August 2009)
*Folkestone Racecourse in Kent - (mixed)
*Fontwell Park Racecourse in West Sussex - (national hunt)
*Goodwood Racecourse in West Sussex - (flat)
*Great Yarmouth Racecourse in Norfolk - (flat)
*Great Leighs Racecourse in Essex - (flat) (opened April 2008)
*Hamilton Park in South Lanarkshire - (flat)
*Haydock Park Racecourse in Merseyside - (mixed)
*Hereford Racecourse in Herefordshire - (national hunt)
*Hexham Racecourse in Northumberland - (national hunt)
*Huntingdon Racecourse in Cambridgeshire - (national hunt)
*Kelso Racecourse in the Scottish Borders - (national hunt)
*Kempton Park in Surrey - (mixed)
*Leicester Racecourse in Leicestershire - (mixed)
*Lingfield Park Racecourse in Surrey - (mixed)
*Ludlow Racecourse in Shropshire - (national hunt)
*Market Rasen Racecourse in Lincolnshire - (national hunt)
*Musselburgh Racecourse in East Lothian - (mixed)
*Newbury Racecourse in Berkshire - (mixed)
*Newcastle Racecourse in Tyne and Wear - (mixed)
*Newmarket Racecourses in Suffolk - (flat)
*Newton Abbot Racecourse in Devon - (national hunt)
*Nottingham Racecourse in Nottinghamshire - (flat)
*Perth Racecourse in Perth and Kinross - (national hunt)
*Plumpton Racecourse in East Sussex - (national hunt)
*Pontefract Racecourse in West Yorkshire - (flat)
*Redcar Racecourse in North Yorkshire - (flat)
*Ripon Racecourse in North Yorkshire - (flat)
*Salisbury Racecourse in Wiltshire - (flat)
*Sandown Park Racecourse in Surrey - (mixed)
*Sedgefield Racecourse in County Durham - (national hunt)
*Southwell Racecourse in Nottinghamshire - (mixed)
*Stratford-on-Avon Racecourse in Warwickshire - (national hunt)
*Taunton Racecourse in Somerset - (national hunt)
*Thirsk Racecourse in North Yorkshire - (flat)
*Towcester Racecourse in Northamptonshire - (national hunt)
*Uttoxeter Racecourse in Staffordshire - (national hunt)
*Warwick Racecourse in Warwickshire - (mixed)
*Wetherby Racecourse in West Yorkshire - (national hunt)
*Wincanton Racecourse in Somerset - (national hunt)
*Windsor Racecourse in Berkshire - (flat)
*Wolverhampton Racecourse in the West Midlands - (flat)
*Worcester Racecourse in Worcestershire - (national hunt)
*York Racecourse in Yorkshire - (flat)

Betting

Wagering money on horse races is as old as the sport itself, but in the United Kingdom the links between horseracing and nationwide wagering are very strong. "Betting shops" are common sights in most towns, tending to be sited wherever a significant number of people with disposable cash can be expected. At one point in the 1970s it was said that the ideal location was "close to a pub, the Labour Exchange and the Post Office", the first being a source of customers in a good mood, the other two being sources of ready cash in the form of "The Dole" and state pension money, which was dispensed through Post Offices at the time.

Betting is taxed under the authority of various acts of Parliament, the revenue being collected by the Horserace Betting Levy Board, an "non-departmental public body" sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. According to the Board website [ [http://www.hblb.org.uk Website] of the Horserace Betting Levy Board.] , 90% of the tax raised by the levy is used for the improvement of horseracing, the rest presumably being absorbed by the Board's expenses. For the latest year reported, the levy resulted in £103.5 million being collected.

Member of Parliament Clement Freud, who himself has owned racehorses, alleged in an article published in the 1970s, before his election to Parliament, that horseracing was organized purely to generate taxes. He cited the large number of otherwise non-viable racecourses kept open (to ensure sufficient races being run) even as the financial rewards to the owners and trainers declined to the point where most could barely cover their expenses.

On 6 October 2001 the Government abolished the tax on betting, which had been 9% of the stake.

Meetings

The main meetings held are:
*March
**Cheltenham - The Festival

**Lingfield Park - Bet Direct Winter Derby

*April
**Aintree - Aintree Grand National Meeting
**Ayr - Scottish Grand National
**Newmarket - Craven Meeting
**Sandown Park - Bet365 Gold Cup Celebration
*May
**Newmarket - Guineas Meeting
**Chester - May Meeting
**York - Dante Meeting
*June
**Epsom Downs - Epsom Derby Meeting
**Ascot - Royal Ascot
**Newcastle - John Smith's Northumberland Plate
*July
**Sandown Park - Coral-Eclipse Meeting
**Newmarket - July Meeting
**Ascot - King George Day
**Goodwood - Glorious Goodwood
*August
**York - Ebor Festival

*September
**Haydock Park - William Hill Sprint Cup
**Doncaster - St. Leger Meeting
**Ayr - Western Meeting
**Ascot - Ascot Festival

*October
**Newmarket - Totesport Cambridgeshire Meeting
**Newmarket - October Meeting
**Doncaster - Racing Post Trophy
*November
**Cheltenham - The Paddy Power Open
**Haydock & Aintree - North West Masters
**Newbury - Hennessy Meeting
*December
**Sandown Park - Tingle Creek Meeting
**Kempton Park - Stan James Christmas Festival
**Chepstow - Coral Welsh National

References

ee also

*"Racing Post"
*"The Sportsman"
*"The Sporting Life"
*"The Sporting Times"

External links

Organisations
* [http://www.britishhorseracing.com/home.asp British Horseracing Authority]
* [http://www.thejockeyclub.co.uk/ The Jockey Club]
* [http://www.weatherbys.co.uk/ Weatherbys]
* [http://www.britishracecourses.org/sponsorship/spon_view.php?id=7 The Racecourse Association]
* [http://www.racehorseowners.net/ The Racehorse Owners Association]
* [http://www.jagb.co.uk/ The Jockeys Association of Great Britain]
* [http://www.amateurjockeys.co.uk/ The Amateur Jockeys Association of Great Britain]
* [http://www.racehorsetrainers.org/homepage/index.asp National Trainers Federation]
* [http://www.thoroughbredbreedersassociation.co.uk/ Thoroughbred Breeders' Association]

Media
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/horse_racing/default.stm BBC horseracing coverage]
* [http://www.racingpost.co.uk/news/splash.sd The Racing Post]
* [http://www.sportinglife.com/racing/news/ Sporting Life]
* [http://www.eclipsemagazine.co.uk Eclipse Magazine]