UK racing reeling as cold causes wave of cancellations 15/01/2010

Jon Parker

THE COLD SNAP in Britain that began last month has had a catastrophic effect on UK horseracing, with now more than half of all races in the country having been abandoned, EGRmagazine.com can reveal.

Since the snow and ice hit Britain on the 14 December, 54 of the country’s 105 racing fixtures to date have been cancelled, according to the Racecourse Association, with the rate of abandonments only increasing this month.

December saw 18 abandonments, including two-day weekend events at both Ascot and Haydock Park, while January has already seen 36 out of 50 planned fixtures abandoned.

“All turf and even some all-weather racing has been abandoned,” said Racecourse Owners Association chief executive Michael Harris, who warned that the cancellations posed a long-lasting threat to the sport and the industry, as “there is a danger that bettors might develop a habit of betting on other products and not come back to racing when the cold is all over. The whole industry is concerned.”

Racing levies paid by bookmakers comprise 60% of the sport’s funding, with the Levy Board warning that lost levies will have cost the sport £10,000 for each race called off.

Race Course Association (RCA) racing executive Tim Jones said that RCA, The British Racing Association and the Levy Board are in “constant contact” to arrange replacement fixtures at all-weather tracks, including a special flat race for jump horses at Southwell last Wednesday, “but there is a limit to the number of additional fixtures that can be put on.

“Racing has been hit hard, and if we can’t provide the betting fraternity with events that they can bet on, we can’t ensure that the levy isn’t lost,” he said.

Betfair spokesman Tony Calvin confirmed that the cancellations had affected the online betting exchange’s racing income, saying: “Racing turnover has obviously been hit hard, and there is clearly very little we can do to address the downturn in this area. We do put up ‘Will Racing Go Ahead?’ markets for meetings where inspections are planned, but in truth these are primarily PR vehicles.” 

Ladbrokes spokesman Ciaran O’Brien said that the traditionally racing-heavy bookmaker, which re-launched its sportsbook this week, has also been affected, and that the abandonments have forced it to take measures to direct punters to other markets. O’Brien said: “We have been impacted [and] we have been proactively managing our products in response to the cancellations. In terms of football we have added significantly more markets to lesser matches and upgraded our in-play offering, for example.”

The impact on the two bookies, who both hold major strength in horseracing markets, was revealed in their losing a significant share of traffic from odds-comparison site Oddshecker in December to rivals, a trend that has continued this month.

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Posted: 15/01/2010