THE recent unveiling of the 2019 fixture list in Britain revealed that a record 1511 race meetings are scheduled to take place across the Irish Sea over the course of next year.

This mammoth fixture list has grown by just three from the corresponding figure in 2018 which isn’t any way remarkable but there was one phrase accompanying the forthcoming fixture list which caught the eye. The phrase in question was that ‘measures have also been agreed to schedule floodlit cards in an attempt to provide more continuous and consistent betting product’.

The fact that the fixture list has grown by just three means that these floodlit fixtures have simply moved from other time slots which in itself is unremarkable. However, the reference to continuous and consistent betting product strikes a chord and not a positive one at that. It is suggestive of supplying a conveyor belt of racing – the vast majority of which is likely to be mundane in the extreme – at regular and relatively quick intervals to provide a steady and constant betting medium.

This calls to mind the contribution of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Chief Executive Officer Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges at the Asian Racing Conference almost three months ago. His thoughts from Seoul have been covered here in the past but for the purpose of this conversation they are worth recalling.

During the course of his address Engelbrecht-Bresges stated that horse racing needs to move beyond a commonly held view that it is purely a vehicle for gambling. In addition he expressed the view that racing’s greatest appeal lies in its key participants – horses, jockeys and trainers.

“We have to broaden our fan-base and to do that we clearly have to shift from gaming as the main brand, to leisure and entertainment; racing must be positioned as world class sport,” he said.

Racing needs to position itself in a way that will make it distinguishable and which will enable its customers and potential customers to recognise the aspects of the sport that will appeal to them, he added. His belief was that this in turn will enable racing to expand its fan base across demographic groups.

Those thoughts are as interesting now as they were in mid-May and even more so when one reflects on the reference to providing a more continuous and consistent betting product. Such language does nothing to move racing away from the a widely held view that it is purely a vehicle for gambling.

One can be sure that apart from the occasional exception the appeal of Engelbrecht-Bresges’ key participants will instead be overshadowed by the sheer volume of mundane product. Moreover, the action at these fixtures is likely to do little to broaden the sport’s fan base.

This is not to say that every day’s racing has to be of the highest quality, as such an aspiration is utterly unrealistic, but it is concerning to see racing referred to simply as betting product. Indeed such phrases do little to differentiate horse racing from other betting mediums such as virtual racing from Portman Park or Steepledowns.

All of the above relates to the 2019 fixture list in Britain and the hope is that such a thought process won’t ever accompany the compilation of an Irish fixture list.

It would be my view that any sport that positions itself in such a way as to be regarded as betting product is doing itself a disservice and nor is it looking to reach beyond its traditional confines or boundaries.

£1 million Ebor could be a game changer

EARLIER this week, Stradivarius cemented his position as one of the best stayers of recent times as he notched up back-to-back successes in the Group 1 Goodwood Cup.

This success leaves the John Gosden-trained four-year-old within touching distance of capturing the inaugural Weatherbys Hamilton Stayers’ Million which will be his should he prevail in the Lonsdale Cup at York later this month. Presumably the son of Sea The Stars will remain in training for next year and, if there is another £1 million bonus on offer next year, a similar path to 2018 will surely beckon for Stradivarius.

However, next year also brings with it the prospect of Gosden’s charge trying what would have previously been deemed the unthinkable in European racing. In 2019 the Ebor Handicap at York will be worth £1 million and surely such a prize fund might be enough to tempt the colt’s connections into venturing into a handicap.

If this were Australia or America such an assault would be far from remarkable – one only has to look at the Melbourne Cup – but in terms of Europe it would be near unprecedented for a genuine Group 1 performer to try his hand in a handicap. The proliferation of well endowed Group 1 prizes means that there is little or no incentive for top-class horses in Europe to venture into handicap company.

Furthermore, the vast majority of top-flight races dwarf the major handicaps in terms of the prize money that is on offer so there is no incentive for top-class horses to eschew Group 1 glory. Next year though, a £1 million Ebor will surely vie for the attention of some of the best stayers in this part of the world and it could well act as a lure into attracting a horse of Stradivarius’ calibre into a handicap, which would be quite a coup.

Furthermore, the Cesarewitch will be worth £500,000 this year and by 2020 the Newmarket marathon will also offer a seven-figure prize fund. It isn’t fanciful to think that other major handicaps over other trips could follow suit in the coming years.

If these races manage to capture the imagination we could possibly be standing on the cusp of witnessing a notable shift in terms of how some of the best flat horses in this part of the world are campaigned.

Fans of National Hunt racing are often heard to lament the passing of a time when high-class jumpers regularly tested their mettle in top-class handicaps, as per Arkle and, more recently, Denman, and the creation of these seven-figure handicap pots on the flat could represent a hark back to such a era.