New $15m global racing league set to launch in 2026

The venture is primarily a jockeys’ competition and has been co-founded by ex-Godolphin chief executive John Ferguson and Lachlan Fitt, formerly with Entain in Australia and New Zealand.

Frankie Dettori, Ryan Moore, William Buick, Joao Moreira and Zac Purton are among the 12 riders reported to be on the initial roster.

Speaking on Tuesday’s Nick Luck Daily Podcast, Fitt said: “The concept really came about when we’ve watched the success of other sports when they’ve been able to harness the power of their human athletes and really drive a new level of engagement with a new group of fans by essentially building those human athletes into global icons.

“We’ve seen that in a number of sports and believe there’s a great opportunity for the racing industry to do the same with some incredible athletes. There are 12 names that are out there at the moment as our foundation jockeys but what we’re seeking to do is to grow that and look at opportunities over time to be able to profile as many of the world’s top jockeys as we possibly can.”

Fitt feels the series presents an opportunity to reach a younger audience without disrupting the established big-race programme worldwide.

“Really, it’s about trying to bring those elements of sport and bring racing to appeal to a new group of fans,” he continued.

“We have no desire to be competing with the pattern or disrupting global racing schedules. Importantly the jockeys that are involved are aligned in that ambition so we’re working very carefully and it’s very early days to try and understand when and where we can look to run somewhere between six and ten events as part of this league. We’d do everything we can to compliment major festivals and carnivals around the world.

“It’s early days but we’re a good chunk of the way through conversations with a number of potential partners globally and over the coming months we’ll be working through what a schedule could potentially look like and hope to have a view of an initial season kicking off some time in 2026.

“We’re trying to be a plus to what is currently done and not present a product to existing fans that would be different to what they’re used to but also trying to compliment that with a uniform product around the world, across the six to ten events, that we hope appeals to a new fan who start to know the personalities and build an affinity with a favourite.

“Success for us would be that they are then tuning in and watching racing regularly. We’ve touched on complexity, racing is complex, and that’s one the reasons why I feel we’ve struggled to grow the fan base at a younger level because its much more complex than other sports.”

Fitt is confident that the series will be supported by owners and trainers across the countries in which it is to be staged.

“That’s one of the challenges we are working through," he said. "It's different in each market to be honest and really how we see that playing out is in our view there will be enhanced prize money on offer to all participants on those days but importantly we’re not looking at these being stakes races or big prize money events.

“What we need is six really even, good quality, safe races to be able to promote the jockeys and importantly again not disrupt existing stakes patterns or anything like that.

“Really, we’re working through those details and it will be different in each market but the goal is to ensure that all participants on the day are rewarded for being part of the event.”

He admitted the project, at this stage, could run alongside similar lines to the Shergar Cup, like the Ascot showpiece not trying to attract star equine names.

“It is a very similar concept to that and using Australian numbers benchmark - 85-(rated) horses - the level below Listed level type horses, is really where we’re looking, and horses who’d be running at the time we are staging these events anyway. We’re really looking at repurposing existing races to be focused on this concept."

Fitt admits next year's inaugural series might not be the exact template used moving forward, while discussions regarding commercial partners are ongoing.

“We’re building towards trying to run a league that has ten events across the season. That’s unlikely to be the case in the first season but if we can launch some time in 2026 with a series of six events that would be the ideal outcome but we’re a number of months away from finalising what that would exactly look like.”

Regarding funding, he added: “There’s a number of options around that with capital partners than we have on the table but I guess there are a number of commercial drivers towards what the model will look like and being able to support it in getting off the ground. Again it’s early days and its being evaluated.

“There are needs for capital to be put into it to start with but where we are trying to get to is it becomes it’s own entity that can compliment racing and benefit all the host jurisdictions are involved."

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