THE Jockey Club, which operates 14 leading racecourses in the UK through its Jockey Club Racecourses arm including Exeter and Wincanton in the Westcountry, yesterday (July 21) announced major financial support for owners, trainers, jockeys and stable staff by increasing its year-on-year prize money contribution by £1.2 million, as a direct cost to its business. |
The extraordinary measure, in the face of deep funding cuts from the Horseracing Betting Levy, will see Jockey Club Racecourses make a record contribution to 2010 prize money of £13.7 million from £12.5 million in 2009 – the most ever contributed by a racecourse group.
The 10% year-on-year rise includes absorbing the Levy Board’s recent second round of cuts to 2010 prize money allocations, which would have seen in excess of £600k removed from fixtures hosted by Jockey Club Racecourses. The decline in Levy payments partly results from the betting industry moving operations offshore to avoid paying for the right to take bets on British racing.
This increased ‘executive contribution’ is being taken from The Jockey Club's bottom-line profits and is possible due to better-than-forecast returns from its major 2010 Festivals, including the Cheltenham Festival, John Smith's Grand National Meeting at Aintree and the Investec Derby Festival.
Prize money is key to the health of British racing, as a means of passing funding directly through to owners, trainers and jockeys, while also supporting stable staff and industry training. In keeping with its stated mission to act for the good of racing, The Jockey Club already invests sponsorship income, non-prize money grants and other revenues, such as a proportion of media rights, into prize money.
Aside from prize money grants being reduced, Levy Board funding for the Fixture Incentive Scheme has also been cut for the rest of this year, removing £217,000 of contributions Jockey Club Racecourses was set to receive.
Concurrently, the value of media rights agreements with terrestrial broadcasters has reduced significantly for the 2010 to 2012 period. Income Jockey Club Racecourses receives from the BBC is now half of the amount received under the previous agreement, while racing continues to contribute financially to Channel 4's production in order to maintain its year round coverage.
Simon Bazalgette, Group Chief Executive of The Jockey Club, said:
"We have taken the decision to increase our investment in 2010 prize money to its greatest ever level at a time when vastly reduced Levy contributions have reduced the total amount for racing. This is The Jockey Club making the absolute maximum effort for our sport in very difficult funding circumstances for all.
“Sadly there is no way we can fill the void created across the industry by the dramatic drop in Levy income, but I hope that by injecting these funds from the bottom-line of our business it will make a big difference when cascaded through the racing community, where our sport supports more than 100,000 livelihoods across the UK.
“This is an exceptional measure and with such uncertainty in the marketplace currently it is difficult to look at the picture next year. As an industry we need to secure a better commercial arrangement for the right to take bets on racing. We must also focus on marketing our thrilling sport better and showcasing the opportunity racing offers commercial and media partners as Britain’s second most popular sport.”
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