Since the beginning of the year, we have been publishing monthly reports on various measures of how our sport is performing and the data pack covering all races up to the end of August is now available [link]. Now that we are two-thirds of the way through the year, we thought it would be interesting to take more of a deep dive into prize money levels in 2024 and, more specifically, to report on how the returns to owners and other participants have been impacted by the changes introduced to this year’s fixture list.

By way of background, it is worth starting with a reminder that, for the first time, this year’s fixture list included Premier racedays, which were introduced to create a more readily identifiable top end of the sport and to help make the most of our headline events to grow racing’s customer appeal. The Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) agreed to increase its prize money funding towards those Premier racedays by £3.8m. Half of that, or £1.9m, came from additional HBLB funding, with the other half reallocated from the rest of the fixture list.

The headline number at the end of August is that total prize money has increased so far this year by £3.3m, from £129.7m to £133m. That is a 2.5% rise and, with the latest annual inflation figures standing at 2.2%, represents a marginal increase in real terms.

There are various ways of looking at that total in more detail, including how prize money has been divided between Flat and Jump races. At a headline level, total prize money on the Flat has increased by £5.4m from £91.5m to £96.9m. Jump racing, meanwhile, has seen a £1.9m reduction from £37.9m to £36m.

In considering the changing fortunes of the two codes, it is worth mentioning that, with a view to supporting race competitiveness, there was a significant reduction in Jump races programmed in 2024. Indeed, as at the end of August, 216 fewer Jump races had been run compared with 2023. There has been no such reduction on the Flat albeit that some races were moved out of the summer to other times of the year, with 19 more Flat races staged by the end of August.

By comparing average prize money per race, we can take these volume changes into account and that approach illustrates much more similar trends between the two codes. On the Flat, the average prize money per Flat race has increased by 5.2% (from £20,407 to £21,476), which compares with 4.4% over Jumps (from £16,055 to £16,756).

Another approach to reviewing prize money this year is to look at levels by fixture type or, more specifically, between Premier racedays and everything else, which we refer to as Core fixtures. Again, starting with the totals, prize money at Premier racedays has increased by £10.1m, whilst falling by £6.8m at Core fixtures.

On the face of it, therefore, we have already exceeded our published target for prize money at Premier racedays to increase by between £6m to £7m in 2024. However, these total numbers have also been affected by changes in volume including that some of the Premier racedays are entirely new fixtures that did not exist before this year.

The number of Premier racedays staged so far in 2024 has increased by 13 (98 to 111), whilst the number of Core fixtures run has fallen by 44 (899 to 855). Taking account of those changes, the average prize money across all races at a Premier raceday has increased by 2.3%, whilst at Core fixtures has fallen by 4.5%.

What has that meant for individual race values this year? The following table shows the median prize money value offered for Black Type races and handicaps by class across all Flat fixtures in 2023, and at Premier racedays and Core fixtures in 2024. Similar tables will be produced for Chases and Hurdles, and published in the coming months.

Looking at Premier racedays, the table illustrates how the introduction of this new tier of fixtures, supported by increased minimum values, has impacted prize money levels for Black Type races.  As for the lower-class handicaps, prize money levels have inevitably been impacted by the requirement that no race can be run at most Premier racedays for less than £20k on the Flat and £15k over Jumps. As for Core fixtures, meanwhile, the median race values are generally in line with where they were in 2023.

In summing up, therefore, it is clear that, as was always the intention, the creation of Premier racedays has boosted prize money at our headline meetings and we remain confident that this will support the quality of the racing at these events as well as, in the longer term, supporting the retention of higher rated horses in Britain.

Whilst that has been partly achieved through reductions at other meetings, once the changing volume of fixtures and races is taken into account, the impact on reductions of prize money at Core fixtures is not as severe as the headline total might suggest. That said, it is essential that at all levels and across both codes, British racing can grow the prize money on offer if we are to support our sport’s future.