THERE was plenty to be upbeat about over the last few days, most notably a gala in aid of the retraining of racehorses charity ‘Au-Dela Des Pistes’ [‘Beyond The Racecourse’] which raised over €100,000, and a subsequent raceday which featured a parade of former champions such as Cirrus Des Aigles, Marchand d’Or and Solow, demonstrating how much these wonderful old warriors are enjoying their retirement.

However, the General Assembly of the French Breeders Federation included a sobering speech from Cyril Linette, who in April became the new Director General of Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU – the French Tote).

Linette did not mince his words. He hit home with various depressing statistics, most notably that betting on horse racing and trotting has been declining at around 2% per year since 2012 and that, according to market research, only 8% of the French population expressed any interest in racing or trotting.

“I am deliberately painting you an alarmist picture because everyone needs to be aware of the situation and be ready for changes,” Linette said. “For many years the PMU did not have any competition and now that we have, from online gambling and sports betting, we have masked the problem by coming up with ever-increasing betting opportunities.”

“The PMU has lost its identity. Racing and trotting need to be integrated; there need to be many fewer races and racecourses, and as a result a further short term fall in betting turnover is inevitable.”