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That's precisely the point Saxon Warrior. If the Cheltenham Festival is going to host handicaps at the sports premier event then the prizemoney should reflect that. If not, and 'racing can't afford it' take them away and go back to a three day Festival. UK racing has been falling backwards compared to Ireland and France for a decade, so why not let Punchestown emerge as the sport's primary Festival too!
Ireland is a Country where both the Government and the Sport is prepared to invest to be succesful. The UK on the other hand made it's first stab at reforming the levy for 56 years in 2017 (yes 56 years!!!!), and it was a mediocre effort after the bleating and threats from the bookmakers. Now it's time to review it again and do the job thoroughly and properly, to ensure the bookies pay up from their Gibraltar tax havens. The Levy and the bookmakers are almost entirely the reason that UK Racing is lagging behind, and Racing and the Government are allowing it to happen, and have been for far too long.
For anyone that thinks the problem is something else, or there isn't an issue, it's easy to show how UK racing has fallen behind every major racing country in the world. The average prizemoeny in UK racing is 25% less than Ireland, and 33% less than France, and that's becuase betting turnover returned to racing by the Levy is 0.6% in the UK, and by comparison it's 1.5% in Ireland, and a whopping 8.8% in France. That leads to the huge difference to what we currently see that's invested in prizemoney, and racing as a whole. The disparity is so wide, it's little wonder that many big Irish owners are choosing to stay at home to contest their own races rather than head over here in March. It's also little wonder that the best horses are being snapped up at the sales and going to Irish trainers, and UK trainers find it increasingly hard to compete.
It's not just the Irish owners and trainers swerving some of the races at the Festival because of prizemoney issues though. Paul Nicholls is increasingly swerving it and aiming at Aintree for 'softer' races instead because he sees this as the best chance of getting big races on board. He wasn't the only trainer to do it either. But if the prizemoney were sufficient at Cheltenham I doubt very much that he or anyone else would be able to convince owners to swerve the chance of a Festival winner. The very fact that UK owners and trainers are choosing to go to Aintree instead is the the most damning thing of all for where Cheltenham prizemoney sits, and just how damaging the overall lack of money in UK Racing is.
And this is tip of the iceberg stuff. I have a number of friends in the UK who have scaled back, and others that have pulled out completely, whereas my Irish friends are chomping at the bit for the upcoming Goffs Landrover Sale. The lack of prizemoney here is a huge problem, and the inability to compete with owners and trainers from Ireland in the sales ring is compounding the problem. And ultimmately it manifests itself with Great Britain 5 Ireland 23, with Irish trainers also able to leave ammunition at home for better prizemoney. The UK is getting smashed in every way imaginable now, and the only fix is to get signifcantly more money into the game, or the slippery slope will become terminal.
As I said, the issue we have here is that the majority of racing income comes from the levy, and the precentage coming directly back into racing is palpably not enough. 0.6% is embarrassingly low compared to other racing jurisdictions. The horse racing industry is far too weak in its stance with the bookmakers, and we lag far behind the rest of the world because of this specific issue. Racing needs to engage better with Goverment to push back hard against the bookmakers to do what they absoutely should do. And that's to make sure UK Racing operates on an even footing with the rest of the world, by taking it's fair share from the bookmakers who rely on it taking place to boost their swollen tax haven profits.
Poor prizemoney in the Cheltenham handicaps is a symptom of a much bigger issue, and the answer here is not about concentrating prizemoney in a few pots, it's about fixing all the pots by solving the levy issue. But in the meantime before it's all fixed, UK Racing has to ensure the centrepiece of the jumps calrendar doesn't lose it's crown to other Festivals in Ireland. If it does, and there's a very real danger of that right now, there won't be a chance to turn the clock back. Punchestown and Leopardstown will already have stolen the crown and will keep it for themsleves.
Ireland is a Country where both the Government and the Sport is prepared to invest to be succesful. The UK on the other hand made it's first stab at reforming the levy for 56 years in 2017 (yes 56 years!!!!), and it was a mediocre effort after the bleating and threats from the bookmakers. Now it's time to review it again and do the job thoroughly and properly, to ensure the bookies pay up from their Gibraltar tax havens. The Levy and the bookmakers are almost entirely the reason that UK Racing is lagging behind, and Racing and the Government are allowing it to happen, and have been for far too long.
For anyone that thinks the problem is something else, or there isn't an issue, it's easy to show how UK racing has fallen behind every major racing country in the world. The average prizemoeny in UK racing is 25% less than Ireland, and 33% less than France, and that's becuase betting turnover returned to racing by the Levy is 0.6% in the UK, and by comparison it's 1.5% in Ireland, and a whopping 8.8% in France. That leads to the huge difference to what we currently see that's invested in prizemoney, and racing as a whole. The disparity is so wide, it's little wonder that many big Irish owners are choosing to stay at home to contest their own races rather than head over here in March. It's also little wonder that the best horses are being snapped up at the sales and going to Irish trainers, and UK trainers find it increasingly hard to compete.
It's not just the Irish owners and trainers swerving some of the races at the Festival because of prizemoney issues though. Paul Nicholls is increasingly swerving it and aiming at Aintree for 'softer' races instead because he sees this as the best chance of getting big races on board. He wasn't the only trainer to do it either. But if the prizemoney were sufficient at Cheltenham I doubt very much that he or anyone else would be able to convince owners to swerve the chance of a Festival winner. The very fact that UK owners and trainers are choosing to go to Aintree instead is the the most damning thing of all for where Cheltenham prizemoney sits, and just how damaging the overall lack of money in UK Racing is.
And this is tip of the iceberg stuff. I have a number of friends in the UK who have scaled back, and others that have pulled out completely, whereas my Irish friends are chomping at the bit for the upcoming Goffs Landrover Sale. The lack of prizemoney here is a huge problem, and the inability to compete with owners and trainers from Ireland in the sales ring is compounding the problem. And ultimmately it manifests itself with Great Britain 5 Ireland 23, with Irish trainers also able to leave ammunition at home for better prizemoney. The UK is getting smashed in every way imaginable now, and the only fix is to get signifcantly more money into the game, or the slippery slope will become terminal.
As I said, the issue we have here is that the majority of racing income comes from the levy, and the precentage coming directly back into racing is palpably not enough. 0.6% is embarrassingly low compared to other racing jurisdictions. The horse racing industry is far too weak in its stance with the bookmakers, and we lag far behind the rest of the world because of this specific issue. Racing needs to engage better with Goverment to push back hard against the bookmakers to do what they absoutely should do. And that's to make sure UK Racing operates on an even footing with the rest of the world, by taking it's fair share from the bookmakers who rely on it taking place to boost their swollen tax haven profits.
Poor prizemoney in the Cheltenham handicaps is a symptom of a much bigger issue, and the answer here is not about concentrating prizemoney in a few pots, it's about fixing all the pots by solving the levy issue. But in the meantime before it's all fixed, UK Racing has to ensure the centrepiece of the jumps calrendar doesn't lose it's crown to other Festivals in Ireland. If it does, and there's a very real danger of that right now, there won't be a chance to turn the clock back. Punchestown and Leopardstown will already have stolen the crown and will keep it for themsleves.
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