World Pool: Field sizes key to Britain making most of racing's global reach

John Gosden says the top players in British racing must get behind the drive to increase field sizes in elite races and increase the appeal of the sport to international punters in a bid to boost revenues from global pool betting.

The trainer was speaking at a launch event for World Pool in Newmarket on Monday evening, at which it was announced that Cazoo Oaks day at Epsom has been added to the schedule for international co-mingling in 2022, making it 17 days of racing in Great Britain and Ireland that will come under the World Pool banner.

That means that of the 37 days of international racing in which the lucrative Hong Kong pools are shared with other jurisdictions, almost half will now take place on British shores.

However, it is expected that Hong Kong are planning to grow the number of days on which international betting is allowed in future years and Tote CEO Alex Frost spoke of the need for British and Irish racing to "set itself alight this year" in order to position itself as strongly as possible for when that market further opens up.

Competitive races with a minimum of seven (in order to activate all the different exotic bet types so popular globally) and ideally 10, 12 or more runners are essential to this and an area in which some of the elite British races did not excel last year.

Addressing this issue, Julian Richmond-Watson, chairman of the Throughbred Breeders Association, asked whether courses should look at scheduling more races than required and then only stage the ones likely to produce the most competitive contests.

Gosden backed up the importance of making sure that British racing had global appeal and warned of the potential consequences.

"The problem with our racing now is that we have become a nursery for horses to go elsewhere in the world," he said. "Anything rated 95-plus is gone right after Ascot. They're not there the following year.

"So we talk about field sizes, which is right - how do you get the depth of field in the Prince of Wales's Stakes - average field size about six or seven runners? We have that problem. But without internationalising we're going to go nowhere.

"We have a Gambling Commission coming right down the road like a bullet between the eyes. To me, I'm not interested in gambling. But without it, we don't exist. We've become quite parochial here, quite pleased with ourselves. And unless we internationalise the betting industry rather than just sending our best horses around the world, we will just wither on the vine."

Gosden's view was backed up by fellow Newmarket trainer William Haggas who added: "There's no doubt that British racing is ... sliding. I can't think of anything more exciting happening in the latter stages of my training career than this and I think it's essential that we all get behind it.

"We all have to be looking internationally. I know that when we had those horses in Australia it generated enormous excitement and then when Addeyyb won the Champion Stakes I got lots and lots of texts from Australians saying 'He's our horse'.

"That is what can happen here. These pools are going to be absolutely fantastic and the more money that is in there, the more we will all benefit."

Each World Pool day generates between £20 and £30 million of betting turnover, from which the host racecourse takes a percentage cut.

While contractual details are commerically sensitive, Jockey Club Racecourses say that every race at the 2022 Cazoo Derby Festival will this year be run for more prize money than was the case pre-pandemic in 2019 and that World Pool income is an important element in that increase.

One horse who could feature on World Pool days is unbeaten top miler Baaeed.

"We're just about to start work now so the nervous time begins," Haggas said. "He looks well, he seems well and we've seen nothing that suggests he's gone backwards.

"If he wins the Lockinge it will help make his programme more obvious, but if we have a stumble it could get more complicated.

"My personal view is that it's a matter of when rather than if we step him up because he's certainly got the pedigree to stay and it's my view that he could be a really smart horse over a mile and a quarter but we've got that excitement to come. But as every trainer, owner and breeder will tell you lots can go wrong."

• QIPCO 2000 Guineas Day – Newmarket Rowley Mile Racecourse, Saturday 30th April

• Cazoo Oaks Day – Epsom Downs Racecourse, Friday 3rd June

• Cazoo Derby Day – Epsom Downs Racecourse, Saturday 4th June

• Royal Ascot – Ascot Racecourse, Tuesday 14th to Saturday 18th June

• QIPCO King George Diamond Day – Ascot Racecourse, Saturday 23rd July

• Qatar Goodwood Festival - Goodwood Racecourse, Tuesday 26th to Thursday 28th July

• Ebor Festival – York Racecourse, Wednesday 17th to Friday 19th August

• Longines Irish Champions Day – Leopardstown, Saturday 10th September

• QIPCO British Champions Day – Ascot Racecourse, Saturday 15th October

As a collaboration of global Totes, World Pool enables racing fans from all over the globe to bet into a single pool.

This creates huge liquidity and excellent value for racing fans. In 2021, £363 million was bet into the pools with a 15% higher return to a £1 bet compared to the industry Starting Price for online customers of the Tote.

For the first time, a World Pool “Moment of the Day” will be awarded by an industry representative at the 16 World Pool days in the lead up to British Champions Day, with the moment decided by a standout performance. This could include a wide-margin winner; a winner from an unlikely position; an extraordinary turn of foot at any point in the race; an above expectation performance by an outsider; or a human or equine interest story.

Racing staff who look after the winning horse for each World Pool “Moment of the Day” will receive £1,000 and a bottle of champagne.

At the end of the World Pool season, the 16 winners of “Moment of the Day” at World Pool events will compete for the overall World Pool “Moment of the Year”, which will be presented on British Champions Day. The overall winner will be determined by a combination of scores derived from a public vote and an industry panel.

The winning yard who looks after the horse will be awarded the World Pool Moment of the Year and receive £34,000.

There are seven bet types in World Pool for 2022, including the Exacta and Treble for the first time. These are set out below:

• Win (Single Leg bet) - Pick the winner of the race

• Place (Single Leg bet) - Pick a horse to be placed. Hong Kong place terms apply

• Exacta (Single Leg bet) - Pick the first two horses in the correct order

• Trifecta (Single Leg bet) - Also known as the Tierce. Select the winner, the second, and the third horse in the correct order

• Quinella (Single Leg bet) - Select the first two finishers in either order

• Swinger (Single Leg bet) - Also known as the Quinella Place, Pick two horses to finish 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in any order

• Treble (Multi Leg bet) - Pick the first horse in three races