There will be 391 race meetings here in 2026. That’s the same as this year, and last year. Plenty within the sport and industry argue that’s way too many. But the system is geared towards it, and it’s not like that system is on the brink of collapse.
The pure mathematics behind the argument is straightforward. There were just over 1,400 fixtures in Britain last year, whose population is more than nine times that of the island of Ireland. Racing might have a special place in Irish sport, but it’s a proportional sum that doesn’t add up.
There will be a different kind of tot at Listowel today. The Harvest Festival’s Ladies’ Day meeting is always a huge attraction. Nearly 29,000 people crammed together on the banks of the river Feale last year, according to the official attendance figure. It’s a single-day crowd that puts the recent Irish Champions Festival tally of nearly 20,000 in the shade.
But gauging the temperature of Irish racing’s overall appeal through a singular event like Listowel’s Ladies’ Day is like taking a thermometer to Royal Ascot and proclaiming all’s hale and hearty with British racing. Recent protests in Westminster against the prospect of harmonisation of betting tax underline how skewed such impressions can be.
It’s not so long ago that the top Newmarket trainer William Haggas called for 300 fixtures to be cut in Britain. It was in a context of record-low field sizes and dire warnings about prize money levels being spread too thin.
Death and taxes may be inevitable, but it often seems only a short head behind in the inescapable stakes are trainers complaining about inadequate prize money. That their economic pitch boils down to discredited trickle-down theories is just as inexorable.
Nevertheless, it’s hard to ignore how the cross-channel jockeys’ representative body has also argued that there are way too many fixtures. And since trainers, owners and jockeys are the ones who largely benefit from a glut of opportunities, the implications of their arguments can’t be dismissed as entirely self-serving.
Time was when racing here was condescending towards what happened across the Irish Sea. Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) made no secret of its ambition to keep quality levels up in comparison to what was often termed a race to the bottom in Britain, where too much of what was on offer could be filed under betting-shop fodder.
There’s no room for such airs and graces any more. The crowds in Listowel this week reflect the enduring appeal of Irish racing’s big festival events, which contributed to an official overall total of 1.24 million in attendances last year. It corresponds to an average attendance of over 3,000.
That’s the statistic. But the idea that it reflects the reality on the ground at a large swathe of fixtures here is far fetched. It also doesn’t factor in how numbers through the turnstiles are largely irrelevant most of the time.
That’s because almost 400 meetings a year shows how Irish racing too has gone down the financial rabbit hole of servicing the gambling industry.
Racecourse media rights have become intertwined with betting turnover. The more money is generated by betting, the more it pays off for racecourses, with an inherent motivation to keep churning out product, no matter what the quality or any broader appeal.
There are 20 per cent more fixtures now than two decades ago at the height of the Celtic Tiger craziness. There were 351 meetings 10 years ago. The consequent impact on field sizes has been a feature of this season’s action in big handicap prizes. But still the emphasis is on more.
When even those who benefit from such a glut are shouting “whoa” it’s time to take a pull. Diluting a product’s central appeal, in this case racing that fans and punters want to watch and bet on, is a questionable long-term strategy.
HRI and the tracks can argue that no one’s making anyone watch or bet on anything that they don’t want to, that a menu is being put in front of the consumer from which they can pick and choose as they wish. The number of fixtures has remained constant for a while now and nothing has imploded.
But presuming on that, even into the middle term, is a risky bet. The betting outlook in Britain, particularly, is in too uncertain a state to bank on anything. In fact, the shrewd money is on horse racing’s slice of the gambling pie shrinking even further in years to come.
HRI’s job is to administer and govern racing. But there is an implicit requirement that its role goes beyond simply curating. We are already seeing how if the sport is hitched tightly to betting, loading up on nondescript fixtures risks entering the realm of diminishing returns. That requires leadership which looks beyond just putting out the latest fire.
Ultimately, racing’s appeal revolves around presenting as attractive and fair a product as is possible, both for punters and fans. It requires the sport and industry, under the HRI umbrella, to recognise that less really is more sometimes when it comes to its own health and prosperity.
Something for the Weekend
The claims of Godolphin’s Wise Approach (3pm) for Saturday’s Middle Park Stakes are hard to knock. A half-brother to the 2021 Middle Park hero Perfect Power, he ran a fine third in the Prix Morny, when an argument can be made that William Buick mistimed his run on a notably fast colt.
Real Gain (3.40pm) ran a stormer on his comeback effort when third in Goodwood’s Golden Mile in July and lines up in Newmarket’s Cesarewitch. He is a previous course and distance winner. He wouldn’t like ground conditions to get too fast but the lightly raced gelding looks to have a major handicap pot in him.
