By Tom Byrne, BHA Head of Racing and Betting

In 2024, British racing introduced a protected Saturday afternoon window as part of a two-year trial of fixture list initiatives. The trial put a limit on the number of fixtures that could take place in a two-hour protected window primarily between 2pm and 4pm to give our best fixtures and races more space and visibility to help grow interest in the sport. 

In its main objective, the protected window trial achieved what we hoped, as it gave our major races time and space to breathe. Betting data confirms that major races produce significantly higher turnover when given an increased lead time, compared to other races where turnover generally grows less significantly with the same lead time. 

However, the trial also highlighted some challenges. While the protected window created more opportunities to engage with our headline races and fixtures, it caused congestion elsewhere in the day and impacted attendance at many, although not all, fixtures that were moved out of their traditional slots.  

We have looked at the trial in detail, and in 2026 we will be moving forward with those elements that worked, and dropping other elements that didn’t, to find a happy medium that will allow our best races the time and space they deserve, without impacting as much on other Saturday fixtures. 

What’s changing in 2026 and why? 

As announced alongside the publication of the 2026 Fixture List, this year we will move away from the blanket protected window and adopt a more targeted approach to our major races. The goal remains the same: to ensure our most important races receive the prominence they deserve. But rather than applying this across all fixtures, we will focus on approximately 100 major Saturday races throughout the year. 

These will include: 

• Races at major festivals (such as the Grand National meeting, Derby, Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood, Ebor) 

• Group/Grade 1 races 

• The highest betting turnover race of the day from the previous year 

• Races worth £150k+ 

There will always be at least one race on a Saturday afternoon that benefits from this additional space. 

How will it work?

For these key races, we will aim to create a minimum of a 10-minute clear gap before the scheduled start time. For example, if a major race is set for 3:30pm, the race prior will be scheduled to have finished by 3:20pm. 

This may require slightly longer gaps between races at other Saturday afternoon fixtures – up to a maximum of 45 minutes. But we hope racecourses will be able to use these gaps to find other ways of engaging their customers, including promoting and showing the major race.  

We will seek to limit the number of extended gaps as much as we can, and ensure no single racecourse is disproportionately affected throughout the year. 

We are working collaboratively with both ITV and Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) to make this possible. While we can’t control Irish race times, we are engaging closely with HRI to align on this concept where possible and extend similar benefits to major Irish races that take place on Saturday afternoons. This acknowledges both any support they will be able to offer us, as well as the overall benefit to racing of supporting the best races in Ireland and the interest that they generate from British customers. 

Of course, there may still some be factors outside of our immediate control that impact how much lead time we can give to certain races throughout the year, meaning that we will continue to develop and improve our approach as we learn the lessons in practice. However, we will be applying the principles of this policy as we do our very best to offer the appropriate level of space for our biggest races to shine, maximising the opportunity for all of our customers, on and off-course, to engage with and enjoy these races in 2026.