Sunday evening racing: plans on hold following pilot

Sunday evening racing will not be implemented by the British Horseracing Authority after a trial period failed to meet expectations.

Six all-weather meetings took place between January and March and, before they began, targets were set regarding turnover that would need to be met for the venture to be deemed worthwhile.

However, as well as being unpopular with many jockeys, staff and trainers, the meetings also failed to generate sufficient betting interest, with bookmakers reporting a three per cent drop in turnover compared to midweek floodlit fixtures.

That is despite the fact each meeting carried at least £145,000 in prize-money, yielding an average field size of over 10 runners.

Having considered feedback and recommendations, the BHA board opted not to schedule any more pilot fixtures, although it said “making a decision on a small sample presented challenges and therefore the industry should work to develop a proposal for a further trial, should future circumstances permit”.

BHA chair, Joe Saumarez Smith, said: “Although we have learnt some valuable lessons from the short trial, having considered the evidence, feedback and the recommendation from the commercial committee, the board has agreed that no further Sunday evening fixtures should be programmed at this stage.

“However, while the pilot did not deliver what we had hoped, there was a recognition of the challenges presented by making a decision based on such a small sample, especially when the data varied so significantly across the fixtures. It’s also the case that new concepts, which include behaviour change from the betting public, are likely to take time to settle in.

“The board concluded that the concept of Sunday evening racing is not something that should be dismissed and that it would like a further and longer trial to take place, where circumstances permit, to gather additional data.”

In a joint statement, The National Trainers Federation, the National Association of Racing Staff and the Professional Jockeys Association have announced their support for a pause to further Sunday evening fixtures, citing pressures on their members. 

"We collectively support the decision not to programme any further trial. In addition to the poor performance of the trial fixtures from a betting perspective, feedback from our members was overwhelmingly against the staging of further fixtures.

"While we agree there may be a point in the future when this concept should be revisited, the challenges faced by our members in servicing the fixture list are significant, and we are pleased to see the BHA board recognise resolving them is a pre-requisite to the staging of any further Sunday evening fixtures."