British Racing is working collectively on the delivery of an industry strategy. The strategy work is being coordinated by the BHA, on behalf of and in collaboration with all those working in and involved with the racing industry.

The need for a long-term plan

British racing’s leaders recognise the shared challenges facing the sport and the need to work together to address them.

From areas like more prize money and competitive field sizes, through horse welfare and the needs of racing’s people, and attracting the next generation of owners, investors, and customers – collective action is needed to grow our industry.

The strategy is working to shape racing’s future and strengthen our position as a world-leader in thoroughbred racing and breeding.

The industry strategy framework

The industry strategy framework has been created to help explain and summarise the ongoing work around the industry strategy.

This document brings together the work being undertaken collectively by racing as part of the strategy, and sets out our main strategic objectives, drivers and enablers.

It is not a comprehensive list of everything racing’s businesses or organisations do, nor is it a single overarching strategy document. Instead it is intended to work as a summary and update which will be developed over time as the strategy develops.

When the principles, plans and priorities for the industry strategy were developed by the industry’s leaders, it was decided that a single industry strategy document would not be produced, recognising that producing this would be a lengthy process and work on a number of key areas needed to start straight away. However, it was agreed recently by the industry’s Commercial Committee that a summary framework document would now be a useful tool for the communication of the ongoing work.

Alongside the framework document is a short explainer which provides a bit more detail on work that has been done to date across the industry strategy.

Through ongoing updates to these documents in the future we aim to help build updates and a story as to the progress, achievements and plans for the strategy.

Project Beacon

Project Beacon is the most in-depth piece of consumer research British racing has carried out.

The aim of this work is to understand our current and future fans better, so that we as an industry can plan for growth, address the challenges we face, and ensure the sport remains strong for years to come.

More than 7,500 people across the UK and Ireland have taken part in the research. The findings give us a clear picture of how the public sees racing, where the opportunities are, and what barriers we need to overcome — from welfare concerns, to building stronger emotional connections, to improving the overall experience we offer.

It also shows us who we should be trying to reach in order to grow our sport, what motivates them and what their barriers to entry are…as well as ensuring that we continue to focus on retaining our existing fans.

Read more about Project Beacon in this short summary document.