News & Press Releases

RCA echoes Tony McCoy’s concerns about prize money

Date: Friday, 26 February 2010

The RCA shares the concern expressed by 14-time champion Jump jockey Tony McCoy about prize money levels. This pressure is set to continue in the light of declining Levy income.

The cause of the problem is clear. Racing does not receive a reasonable return from betting through the Levy system, which has failed to keep pace with the ever-changing model of the betting industry. We will be addressing this, with our colleagues at the BHA and the Horsemen’s Group, in our forthcoming submission for next year’s Levy.

We were disappointed by the comments attributed to Paul Dixon, chairman of the Horsemen’s Group, which were ill-informed and picked the wrong target. Racecourses make very substantial contributions to prize money through sponsorship and from their own resources. The economic climate has been challenging for racecourses, in common with other businesses, and is likely to remain so in 2010. We are currently collating racecourse figures for 2009 and the current indications are that they are below 2008. It remains the case that the profit earned by racecourses is low in comparison with the amount they invest. As Deloitte reported last year, racecourses invested £556 million between 2004 and 2008 in facilities for racegoers, horses and Racing’s employees. We will be working hard in the coming weeks to correct these misconceptions about racecourse profitability.

We were surprised to read the suggestion that racecourses are ‘reneging’ on their prize money agreements, and the Horsemen’s Group has not informed us of this viewpoint. It is not our understanding of the current position and we shall take this matter up directly with the Horsemen’s Group.

For further information contact Sarah Nuttall at the Racecourse Association

on 07880 710254 or sarah.nuttall@racecourseassociation.co.uk

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