Horse racing in Great Britain

Gambling on horseraces has been one of the cornerstones of the British betting industry and the relationship between the two has historically been one of mutual dependence. The betting industry is an important funder of horse racing in Great Britain, through the betting levy administered by the Horserace Betting Levy Board and through media rights negotiated by racecourses and betting shops.

Types of racing

There are two main forms of horse racing in Great Britain.

• Flat racing, which is run over distances between 5 furlongs and 2 miles 5 furlongs 159 yards
  on courses without obstacles
• National Hunt racing, races run over distances between 2 miles and 4+1⁄2 miles, where horses usually jump either hurdles or fences (races known as steeplechases). There is also a category of National Hunt races known as National Hunt flat races, which are run under National Hunt rules, but where no obstacles are jumped.

Collectively, the above racing is often referred to as racing "under rules", since there is another form of racing which is run on an altogether more informal and ad hoc basis, known as

All the above forms of the sport are run under the auspices of the governing and regulatory body for horse racing in Great Britain, the British Horseracing Authority.^[4] with the exception of point-to-pointing which is administered by the Point-to-Point Authority with the BHA taking on regulatory functions.^[5] There is also a limited amount of harness racing which takes place under the auspices of the British Harness Racing Society and Arabian racing which takes place under the auspices of the Arabian Racing Organisation.

History

Roman era to Middle Ages

Horses were used as beasts of burden in pre-Roman times, but it is thought that the first horse races to take place in Britain were organised by soldiers of the Roman Empire in Yorkshire around 200 AD,^[6] although whether the Romans actually introduced the sport is a matter of conjecture.^[7] It is believed that Romans at the encampment at Wetherby matched horses against Arabian horses brought to England by Emperor Septimius Severus.^[8] Traces of racecourses dating to the Roman occupation exist, but records are scarce.^[7]

The

The earliest written mention of "running-horses" is a record of Hugh, from the French

The first recorded race meetings were during the reign of Henry II at Smithfield, London, during the annual St Bartholomew's horse fair. The event is attested by William Fitzstephen writing at some time after 1174 and the poet Drayton.^[6]

During the

16th Century

Records become more substantial during the time of

Formal race meetings began to be instigated too. 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^[13] and was a small wooden ball decorated with flowers. Meanwhile, the oldest horse race still in existence, the Kiplingcotes Derby was first run in 1519. The Carlisle Bells, reputedly the oldest sporting trophy in the world, were first competed for in the 16th century, in a race that still bears their name. One of the bells is inscribed "The sweftes horse thes bel tak" ("The swiftest horse takes this bell").^[14]

Racing was firmly established at

William III founded a riding academy and gave plates to be ridden for in many parts of the country. Between 1695 and 1702, he ran his own horses at Newmarket, including in a 2000 guinea match against the Duke of Somerset. The influential Tregonwell Frampton, known as the "Father of the Turf" was keeper of William's horses, and performed the same task for Queen Anne, George I and possibly Charles II and James II. He did much to improve the breed.^[21]

The three foundation sires of the modern thoroughbred, the

The improvement of the breed was not purely for sporting purposes though. Warfare and conquest were also factors. As Whyte noted, "to the excellence of the British horse... may be ascribed much of our superiority over other nations, both in commerce and in war."^[22]

18th century

In the early 18th century,

In 1740, Parliament introduced an act "to restrain and to prevent the excessive increase in horse racing"; this was largely ignored and in the 1750 the Jockey Club was formed to create and apply the Rules of Racing. However, until the 1760s, individual horses seldom ran more than five or six times, due to the scarcity of prizes on offer, but this began to change with major race meetings expanding the prizes on offer. Newmarket and York led the way in this.^[26]

Races were still generally for mature horses, and were typically run in matches, or in best-of-three heats over long distances.^[27] Three-year-old races were first run in 1731 and two-year-olds raced for the first time at Newmarket in 1769.^[28] In 1791, Cash became the first yearling to race, and beat a three-year-old in a match at Newmarket, in receipt of 3 stones.^[29]

Newmarket itself continued to grow as a centre of racing and many of the racecourse's historic meetings (with persist to this day) were established in the 1760s and 1770s.^[30]

By the end of the century the

Interest in the sport was at a high throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. As Whyte's History of the English Turf noted in 1840, "For nearly a century and a half, the "Turf" has formed a favourite amusement of "Kings, Lords and Commons".[31] Or as Rice's History reported in 1879, "for some two hundred years the pursuit of Horse-racing has been attractive to more of our countrymen than any other out-door pastime"^[32] Other traditional rural sports, including hawking, shooting and hare-hunting, had much diminished by this period, due to enclosure and "gradual refinement of manners"^[33] and racing was at its "acme".^[34]

Steeplechasing first became organised by Tom Colman at St Albans in the early 1830s. By the end of that decade, the Grand National had been established at Aintree by William Lynn.^[27]

In 1875,

By the turn of the 20th century, it was said that "time has only strengthened and confirmed the national passion for the sport."[37] Concerns over its moral effects were prevalent though. An interest in horse racing and the attendant gambling was described as the "offspring of a passion we should wish to disown", with a warning that "the modern turf is fast becoming the very manor of the worst".^[38]

20th century to date

In 1947 Hamilton hosted the first evening race meeting in Great Britain. Now Wolverhampton Racecourse holds the most evening meetings, with nearly 50 a year.

The Jockey Club governed the sport 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.

Racecourses

There are 60 licensed racecourses in Great Britain, with a further two in Northern Ireland (

Britain is home to some of the world's most important flat races and race meetings. While ancient horse races like the

In National Hunt racing, the Cheltenham Festival is the foremost jump racing festival in the world, and is an annual target for both British and Irish trainers. The festival hosts races such as the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle, which are seen as the peak of their disciplines and over the years have been won by horses whose appeal has transcended the sport, including Kauto Star and Desert Orchid. More widely known still is the Grand National at Aintree, which despite being a very long and difficult race that is historically contested by a lower grade of horses than races at Cheltenham, has produced some of the sports equine superstars, like Red Rum. It has an estimated global audience of 600 million viewers.^[40]

Major festivals

Media coverage

Newspapers

British horse racing is served by a daily, national newspaper, the

. Many national dailies also carry racing news and information in their sports pages.

At various times in history, there has been more than one racing daily, and fierce rivalries have existed between them.

Trinity Mirror

, closed the Life and took over the Racing Post trademark.

In the Victorian era, there was a wide range of sporting newspapers that carried racing news to a greater or lesser extent. These include

Sunday Times as the two weekly turf newspapers.^[42] There were also four monthly magazines at that time – the Old Sporting Magazine (founded 1792), the New Sporting Magazine (founded 1824), the Sporting Review (founded 1837) and the Sportsman (stated to have originated in 1829, so not the same as the Sportsman above which was founded in 1865).^[42] However, coverage of horse racing in newspapers is believed to date as far back as the Evening English Chronicle in 1779.^[43]

Television

There are two dedicated horse racing channels on British

AP McCoy, Alice Plunkett, Mick Fitzgerald and Francesca Cumani.^[44] 60 days of racing are shown on ITV4, and 40 days of racing are shown on ITV

.

World of Sport

For many years, racing was also broadcast on the BBC, who pioneered coverage of the sport in the 1950s. The network retained the rights to key race meetings, such as the Grand National, Royal Ascot and the Derby until 2012 when it was outbid for the rights by Channel 4.[45] The BBC broadcast some of the key moments in the history of British horse racing, such as Red Rum winning his third Grand National and the 1967 victory of Foinavon in the same race after most of the field fell at the same fence.

Channel 4's covered the sport for more than thirty years. Initially it showed the midweek events which were previously shown on ITV but from late 1985 it covered all of the racing previously shown by ITV. Between 2013 and 2016, Channel 4 was the exclusive home of horse racing on terrestrial television.^[46] The last day of Channel 4 Racing was on 27 December 2016.^[47]

As with other sports, many of the people who have presented racing on television through the years have become inseparably linked with racing in the public consciousness. Foremost among these for many years was the BBC's Peter O'Sullevan, known as "the voice of racing", who commentated on fifty Grand Nationals.^[48] Channel 4's most recognisable racing figure was John McCririck, famed for his eccentric dress sense and use of the bookmakers' sign language "tic-tac". Other notable presenters of Channel 4's coverage included Derek Thompson, John Francome, John Oaksey and Brough Scott. Clare Balding transferred from the BBC in 2013 to become lead presenter.

Betting

Wagering money on horse races is as old as the sport itself, but in the United Kingdom the links between horse racing 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",^[

at the time.

As early as 1938, £500,000,000 was being gambled on horse racing in England according to the Christian Social Council Committee on Gambling.

public houses

, with "bookies runners" ferrying the bets from bookmaker to client.

Betting is taxed under the authority of various acts of

gross profit tax is levied on all UK based bookmakers which is payable to the exchequer, and a separate sum is agreed and collected by the Horserace Betting Levy Board, a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, who use the funds for race prize money and the improvement of horse racing.^[51] For the latest year reported, the levy resulted in £103.5 million being collected.^{[citation needed}

]

Member of Parliament Clement Freud, who himself had owned racehorses, alleged in an article published in the 1970s, before his election to Parliament, that horse racing was organised 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.^{[citation needed]}

On 6 October 2001, the Government abolished the turnover-based tax on betting, which had been 9% of the stake or the winnings, the punter having the choice to pay a certain small amount or an uncertain large amount.^{[citation needed]} The tax, now based on gross profit, is now effectively indirectly levied on the punters, the cost being absorbed in the odds that bookmakers offer.^{[neutrality is disputed]}

The last ten years^[when?] in the UK has seen massive growth in online gambling. Punters are now going online to place their bets^[vague], where technology gives them access to a greater wealth of information and knowledge. Now racing punters exchange information on online forums, tipping sites etc. For example, over 200,000 people are set to participate in the next Cheltenham festivals.^[52]

Key people

Jockeys

Further information: List of jockeys

In the early days of British horse racing, owners tended to ride their own horses in races. This practice died out as racing became more organised and the owners, most of them aristocrats, had grooms ride the horses instead. Jockeys at this time were often scruffy and unkempt and not well-regarded.

Jem Robinson, the Arnull family – John, Sam and Bill – and "the first man to bring respectability to the profession" – Frank Buckle.^[56]

The 19th century was dominated by three jockeys – Nat Flatman, George Fordham and Fred Archer – who between them won forty flat jockeys' championships. With the expansion of print media and the growth of interest in horse racing among ordinary people, these jockeys became nationally recognised figures, with a profile enjoyed by the footballers and TV celebrities of today. When Archer died at his own hand, it is said:

In London, special editions of the evening papers were issued; crowds thronged Fleet Street to buy them and omnibuses stopped to allow passengers to read the billboards ... In tram or train, Archer's death was the sole topic of conversation. No greater interest could have been aroused had he been Prime Minister or a member of the Royal family.

– Tanner & Cranham, pp 78–79

The high profile of jockeys at this time is illustrated (literally) by the number of caricatures of jockeys that feature in Victorian society magazine,

aristocrats

and other national figures.

Three figures dominate the flat racing scene of the 20th century too – Steve Donoghue, Gordon Richards and Lester Piggott. Richards is often regarded as the greatest jockey ever^[57] and set many records which still stand, including most flat race victories and most flat jockey championships. Piggott is descended from the great racing families of the 19th century, the Days and the Cannons.^{[citation needed]}

In the modern day,

Group 1 race outright^[61] and as Champion Apprentice in 2005, and more recently Hollie Doyle has broken several of Turner's records^[62] and been nominated for BBC Sports Personality of the Year.^[63]

Historically, jumps jockeys have not had the same profile as their flat counterparts, but this changed to some extent in the 20th century. The large television audience enjoyed by the Grand National has helped in this regard. Previously unknown jockeys like 2013 winner Ryan Mania have received their first nationwide coverage as a result of the race.^[64]

The most-celebrated jumps jockey of all-time is the

Zara Philips.^[66]

Former champion jump jockeys Dick Francis and John Francome have become known to a wider public after enjoying second careers as writers of racing-based fiction,^[67] while Francome (until the end of 2012) and Mick Fitzgerald are known as horse racing TV pundits.

As of November 2017, there are around 450 professional jockeys licensed in the United Kingdom, along with around 300 amateur riders.^[68]

Trainers

Further information: List of race horse trainers

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2013)

Formal training of racehorses began to be common in the reign of James I.^[19]

The two dominant forces in modern day flat training in Britain in the modern era are Irish-based trainer

Saeed Bin Suroor and Charlie Appleby. They largely concentrate on Group races. Operating in much larger numbers of runners, but with a greater spread of quality, are trainers such as Mark Johnston, Richard Hannon Jr. and Richard Fahey

.

In the jumps sphere, Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls dominate, along with the likes of David Pipe, Philip Hobbs, Jonjo O'Neill and Dan Skelton. In recent years, the Irish trainer Willie Mullins has enjoyed huge success in Britain, coming close to taking the Trainers Championship in 2015/16.

Owners

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2013)

Aristocratic families have always owned horses in Britain and the list of Classic winners features names such as the

The Queen Mother was famously keen on horse racing and a race at the Cheltenham Festival, the Queen Mother Champion Chase, is named in her honour. The current King and Queen continue to own horses, although a number of them were sold after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.^[69]

The two most prominent flat owners of the current era are Sheikh Mohammed, under the

Godolphin banner and the team of Michael Tabor, John Magnier

and others, based in Ireland.

Prominent jumps owners include

JP McManus, Graham Wylie and Trevor Hemmings

Administrators

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2013)

Modern-day racing originated in Britain, so many figures from British racing have shaped the sport.

weight-for-age scale, while in the 20th century, form expert and sometime administrator of the sport, Phil Bull established Timeform

whose ratings are often used to assess the all-time great horses.

Key data

Key data for 2004, 2005 and 2010 extracted from the British Horseracing Board's annual reports for 2004 and 2005, the 2010 annual reportfrom its successor organisation, the British Horseracing Authority and the 2011/12 British Horseracing Fact Book

	2004	2005	2010	2011
Fixtures	1,299	1,300	1,392	1,469
Races	8,757	8,588	9,566	10,147
Runners	92,761	94,659	92,025	94,376
Prize Money (Total)	£101.3 million	99.3 million	99.1 million	93.9 million
Prize Money (Flat)	£65.4 million	63.9 million	67.6 million	62.4 million
Prize Money (Jump)	£35.9 million	35.4 million	31.5 million	31.5 million
Racegoers (Total)	6,048,517	5,896,922	5,769,382	6,151,282
Racegoers (Flat)	3,873,508	3,704,567	3,854,863	3,917,510
Racegoers (Jump)	2,175,009	2,192,435	1,914,518	2,233,772
Monthly average horses in training	13,914	14,388	14,340	14,056
Monthly average owners with horses in training	9,266	9,403	8,774	8,425

The Chief Executive of the BHB stated in the 2005 annual report that "Success was achieved in an environment of great uncertainty." The sport is adapting 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 statutory 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.

Racehorse welfare

A 2006 investigation by The Observer found that each year 6–10,000 horses are slaughtered for consumption abroad, a significant proportion of which are horses bred for racing. ^[70] The industry produces approximately 5,000 foals, whilst 4–5,000 racehorses are retired each year, 90 being taken into care by the industries charity Retraining of Racehorses. ^[70] Research conducted by the Equine Fertility Unit found that 66% of thoroughbred foals were never entered for a race, and more than 80% were no longer in training after four years. ^[70] Foal production has increased threefold since 1966. ^[70] Racehorses are capable of living for more than 30 years. ^[70]

See also

• Horse racing in Ireland
• Horse racing in Scotland
• Horse racing in Wales
• List of significant families in British horse racing
• British flat racing Champion Jockey
• British jump racing Champion Jockey

References

1. Daily Telegraph
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2. ^ Economic Impact of British Horseracing 2009 (PDF) (Report). British Horseracing Authority. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 May 2012. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
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5. ^ "Point-to-Point: Contacts". Archived from the original on 4 April 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
6. ^ ^{a b c} Whyte 1840, p. 19.
7. ^ ^{a b c d} Cawthorne & Herod 1902, p. 2.
8. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Barrett 1995, p. 8.
9. ^ ^{a b} "Origin and Progress of Horses and Horse-racing in this island". The Sporting Magazine; Or Monthly Calendar of the transactions of the Turf, the Chace, And every other Diversion Interesting to The Man of Pleasure and Enterprize. London. October 1792.
10. ^ Whyte 1840, pp. 21–22.
11. ^ Whyte 1840, p. 22.
12. ^ Whyte 1840, pp. 22–26.
13. ^ ^{a b c d} Cawthorne & Herod 1902, p. 3.
14. ^ "Bell and Plate Day". Carlisle Racecourse. Archived from the original on 25 April 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
15. ^ Cawthorne & Herod 1902, p. 8.
16. ^ Whyte 1840, p. 29.
17. ^ ^{a b c d} Cawthorne & Herod 1902, p. 4.
18. ^ Whyte 1840, p. 31.
19. ^ ^{a b c} Nimrod 1901, p. 10.
20. ^ Whyte 1840, p. 36.
21. ^ Cawthorne & Herod 1902, p. 7.
22. ^ Whyte 1840, p. vii.
23. ^ Whyte 1840, p. 385.
24. ^ Whyte 1840, p. 386.
25. ^ Whyte 1840, p. 387.
26. ^ Whyte 1840, p. 400.
27. ^ ^{a b c d} Barrett 1995, p. 6.
28. ^ Barrett 1995, p. 9.
29. ^ ^{a b} Barrett 1995, p. 10.
30. ^ Cawthorne & Herod 1902, p. 10.
31. ^ Whyte 1840, p. i.
32. ^ Rice, James (1879). History of the British turf from the earliest times to the present day, Volume I.
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33. ^ Nimrod 1901, p. 5.
34. ^ Nimrod 1901, p. 7.
35. ^ Cawthorne & Herod 1902, p. 11.
36. ^ Plumptre 1985, p. 11.
37. ^ Cawthorne & Herod 1902, p. 13.
38. ^ Nimrod 1901, p. 6.
39. ^ Marcus Armytage (6 May 2008). "Chester racecourse moves with the times". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 9 May 2008.^{[dead link]}
40. ^ "Broadcasting of the Grand National". Aintree Racecourse. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
41. ^ Davies, Ian (11 June 1996). "Media: Life's hard in a two-horse race". The Independent. London, England. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
42. ^ ^{a b} Whyte 1840, p. xiii.
43. ^ Saunders 1863, p. 269.
44. ^ Armytage, Marcus (1 January 2016). "ITV snatches racing rights from Channel 4". The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
45. ^ "Channel 4 gets rights for Grand National, Derby and Royal Ascot". BBC Sport. 19 March 2012.
46. ^ "Channel 4 gets rights for Grand National, Derby and Royal Ascot". BBC Sport. 19 March 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
47. ^ Cook, Chris (2 December 2016). "Channel 4's early racing exit means landmark terrestrial TV blackout". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
48. ^ "Sir Peter O'Sullevan: Former BBC racing commentator in hospital". BBC Sport. 26 March 2013.
49. ^ "Englishmen Gamble £500,000,000 A Year". Catholic Herald. 13 January 1939. p. 13. Retrieved 7 May 2013.
50. ^ "Betting And Gaming Act, 1960". Acts of the United Kingdom Parliament. Vol. 1960. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
51. ^ Website
52. ^ "History of the Cheltenham Festival". 17 February 2019.
53. ^ Tanner & Cranham 1992, p. 15.
54. ^ Nimrod 1901, p. 4.
55. ^ Tanner & Cranham 1992, pp. 18–20.
56. ^ Tanner & Cranham 1992, pp. 21–27.
57. ^ Randall, John (23 August 1999). "John Randall on the 100 makers of 20th-century racing (Part 4)".
    The Racing Post
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58. ^ Paley, Tony (3 January 2013). "Frankie Dettori gambles with career on Celebrity Big Brother". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
59. ^ "Dettori turns masterchef". Horse & Hound. 29 July 2003. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
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61. ^ Cook, Chris (9 July 2011). "Hayley Turner in Group One triumph as Dream Ahead wins July Cup". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
62. ^ Keogh, Frank (5 December 2019). "Hollie Doyle: Jockey breaks record for female wins - 107th victory at Southwell". BBC Sport.
63. ^ "Sports Personality of the Year 2020: Lewis Hamilton crowned winner". BBC. 20 December 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
64. ^ Hudson, Elizabeth (11 April 2013). "Grand National win offers no guarantees for jockey Ryan Mania". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
65. ^ "Jockey Tony McCoy wins Sports Personality of the Year". BBC Sport. 19 December 2010. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
66. ^ Fletcher, Damien (17 September 2005). "The Taming of Zara Philips". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
67. ^ Crace, John (15 February 2010). "How Dick Francis helped me through adolescence". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
68. ^ "Jockeys". British Horseracing Authority.
69. ^ "King Charles III selling 14 racehorses left to him by late mother The Queen". Sky News. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
70. ^ ^{a b c d e} Barnett, Anthony (1 October 2006). "The slaughtered horses that shame our racing". The Observer. London.

Bibliography

• Barrett, Norman, ed. (1995). The Daily Telegraph Chronicle of Horse Racing. Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Publishing.
• Cawthorne, George James; Herod, Richard S. (1902). Royal Ascot, Its History & Its Associations (PDF). London: A Treherne & Co.
  ISBN 9785519295192
  . Retrieved 31 January 2022.
• Horse-Racing: Its History and Early Records of the Principal and other Race Meetings with Anecdotes etc. London: Saunders, Otley & Co. 1863. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
• Nimrod (1901). The Turf. London: Gay and Bird.
• Plumptre, George (1985). The Fast Set – The World of Edwardian Racing. London: Andre Deutsch.
  ISBN 0233977546
  .
• Tanner, Michael; Cranham, Gerry (1992). Great Jockeys of the Flat.
  ISBN 0-85112-989-7
  .
• Whyte, James Christie (1840). History of the British turf from the earliest period to the present day, Volume I.
  OL 6544990M
  .

External links

Organisations

• British Horseracing Authority Archived 18 January 2006 at the Wayback Machine
• The Jockey Club
• Weatherbys
• The Racecourse Association
• The Racehorse Owners Association
• The Jockeys Association of Great Britain
• The Amateur Jockeys Association of Great Britain
• National Trainers Federation
• Thoroughbred Breeders' Association
• Retraining of Racehorses Website

Media

• BBC horseracing coverage
• The Racing Post Archived 18 January 2006 at the Wayback Machine
• Sporting Life