One of the biggest changes to the 2026 fixture list is the reduction in Premier Racedays from 162 in 2025 to 52 next year.
British Horseracing Authority Director Of Racing Richard Wayman feels the scheme has been a success but felt changes had to be made.
Speaking on Wednesday’s Nick Luck Daily Podcast he said: “I think when you look at the Premier Racedays over the last two years we’ve obviously learned lessons. I think it’s reasonable to say from one perspective, Premier has done what it set out to do.
“It was to drive investment in that top end, and across those 162 fixtures we’ve seen an increase in prize-money of over £7 million last year and a further half-a-million this year.
“So from that field of play perspective, things did work. Clearly where we didn’t succeed was the more customer facing proposition. I think everyone recognised, including the racecourses, that by having as many as we did, 170 in the first year, it diluted the message to customers that these are our very best racedays.
“Whilst generally across the sport we still agree with that concept of using our best events to drive interest, I think it was recognised that it will only work if we didn’t overwhelm the customer with a much more reasonable number of those Premier Racedays.
“They genuinely do represent our 52 best fixtures. We’ve put that together a different way this time. Last time we set a bar and racecourse could apply to become Premier Racedays, on this occasion the BHA have made the decision ourselves.
“We considered the fixture list, flat and jumping, and I think everyone would agree on 40 or 45 of the fixtures. Of course as you get a bit closer to the edges it gets a little more difficult but ultimately we’ve ended up with a list of 30 flat and 22 jumps.
“We have used customer data in looking at it, how much money is bet on the races, attendances, prize-money, the quality of the racing, all of that to come up with this list of 52. And all parties, including the racecourses, have been prepared to support that new approach.”
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