The sport is attracting fewer participants and smaller crowds. Why?
of kings is down on its luck. The best measure of the health of horse-racing is the average field size, the number of horses competing in a race. At 8.17 across both flat and jumps racing in 2022, this figure is at its lowest in Britain since records began in 1995.
Horses bred in Britain are increasingly sent abroad to chase bigger prize pots. Even the monarch is souring on the sport. Charles III has started winding down one of the world’s oldest commercial thoroughbred-breeding organisations: almost 60% of the horses that were owned by Elizabeth II have been sold at auction since her death in September. Just Fine, the king’s first winner, was among 14 of the royal horses sold at Tattersalls, a thoroughbred auction house, in November.
As betting on other sports such as football, American football and Formula 1 has increased, gambling on horses has fallen, by 27% in the ten years before the pandemic. Declining attendance at racecourses has also hit the coffers. The number going to the races in the first half of 2022 was down by 9% from the same period of 2019; everything from cost-of-living pressures to animal-welfare concerns are cited as causes.
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