The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has announced that no race meetings will take place in Britain on Wednesday, September 10th as the sport takes the extraordinary step of refusing to race in protest at the British government’s proposed tax rise on horserace betting. This will be the first time that British racing has voluntarily taken such an action in its modern history.

The announcement comes as British Racing’s ‘Axe the Racing Tax’ campaign gears up in advance of the Autumn Budget. The campaign is urging the British government to axe the Treasury’s proposal to bring existing online betting duties into one single rate which the BHA says would have devastating consequences for racing.