Shutdown Would Cost Over £60m a Month

Published: 14 March 2001

The cost to the racing and betting industries of suspending horseracing was today estimated at over £60m a month.

Analysis by the British Horseracing Board of their income streams demonstrates the enormous damage that racing would suffer in the event of a shutdown.

BHB Chairman Peter Savill said today: “There would be no winners from a sustained period without horseracing – only losers.

“While Government advice remains unequivocal that staging racing within the MAFF-endorsed guidelines presents a negligible risk of spreading Foot and Mouth Disease, it is essential for the 100,000 people who work in and derive a living from racing that a controlled programme of fixtures continues to be staged.

“The £60m a month loss represents an average cost of £600,000 for every fixture that the industry fails to stage, a figure of which all sections of the industry need to take careful account when determining their actions. There is no doubt that many jobs are at risk at present and it is up to us to be responsible in preserving them.”

The figure does not include any impact on those who indirectly rely on the staging of racing, nor does it assume any reduction in training fees nor the removal of any horses from training which would almost certainly occur during a long period of closure.

For further information, please contact:

Alan Delmonte, BHB Communications Manager, 020 7343 3318