Investing in All Weather racing
/Article by Catrin Nack
The European ‘all-weather’ racing scene has come a long way since racing on an artificial (non-turf) surface was first introduced in the UK at Lingfield Park in 1989. Today, ‘all-weather’ racing accounts for 23% of the French racing programme; and in the UK, racing has recently benefited from a major ‘all-weather’ prize money boost.
‘All-weather’ racing is enhancing the opportunities for those connections wishing to keep horses in training across Europe over the winter months.
But what are opportunities like on a country by country basis? Which countries are investing in ‘all-weather’ racing?
France
While trotting is still the main racing sphere by some way in France – and all their racing is on dirt tracks – all-weather in France has been gathering momentum for over a decade now. Of roughly 5,000 races run in France in 2021, 1,149 were staged on an all-weather surface, thus comprising some 23% of the race program.
Prestigious tracks such as Deauville and Chantilly have all-weather circuits; in total there are seven all-weather tracks in the country: Deauville, Chantilly, Pornichet, Lyon-la-Soie, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Pau and Marseille-Vivaux.
In contrast to other racing nations, where usually the whole raceday will take place on one surface, French tracks have mixed cards and use the all-weather (all with a Polytrack surface) in summer also.
While diversifying the programme, it also takes pressure off the grass tracks, with rising temperatures in southern Europe providing new challenges in turf maintenance. French racing has eight Listed races run on its all-weather surfaces, Cagnes-Sur-Mer stage two, Chantilly one and five at Deauville. A review to enhance the Black-type programme is on the way, but plans are in the very early stages. French tracks are part of the All-Weather Championships programme to qualify for the finals on Good Friday in the UK – something French raiders did to good effect in 2022.
French racing receives the majority of its income – read prize money – from its betting turnover, as the PMU (the French Tote) has a monopoly on betting. The rise in all-weather racing has naturally seen a rise in betting turnover in this sphere – roughly 18% of all PMU-flat races are run on the all-weather circuit. Recent results suggest that the betting public is gradually switching from traditional jump-races to all-weather racing.
According to Adrien Cugnasse, all-weather racing also caters well for a new type of owner. With syndicates still very scarce in France, a new type of ‘middle class’ owner has been emerging over the last couple of years – much needed new blood, but a type of owner that relies on a more regular income through prize money.
UK
It's Year 10 since the creation of Arena Racing Company (ARC) backed All-Weather Championships, and racing on this surface does continue to increase in volume. Six racecourses in Britain stage all-weather racing, on either Polytrack (Lingfield, Kempton, Chelmsford) or Tapeta (Newcastle, Southwell, Wolverhampton); roughly one fifth of all flat races are now on a synthetic surface.
Huge investments have been made by the operator ARC across their four all-weather racecourses to improve the surface. With Southwell being the latest course to convert to a Tapeta surface (from Fibresand).
Mark Spincer, managing director of ARC’s Racing Division says that “changing the surface, particularly at Southwell, was the right thing to do and the feedback from trainers and owners has been very positive so far.”
The creation of the All-Weather Championships 10 years ago can only be viewed as a major success story; the series now incorporates races from Ireland, France, Dubai and even races in Saudi Arabia, as well as the enhanced Fast-Track-Qualifying system.
The switch of Finals day from Lingfield to Newcastle two years ago was followed by the creation of “All-Weather Vase Day” at Lingfield Park last year, also staged on Good Friday.
A day that traditionally saw no racing at all now has two high-profile all-weather meetings taking place – a definite illustration of the rise of racing on this surface. Along with geographically diverse racing in the north and the south, All-Weather Vase Day naturally comes with added prize money, the whole raceday is worth around £390,000.
No fast-track-qualifying here, but at least three runs are needed akin to Finals Day, thus creating additional incentive to run on the all-weather. Even the quickest of glances at any given fixture list on the all-weather does reveal the extent to which these races are contested now; with even the choicest-bred horses from big yards coming under starters orders.
While headline names to race synthetic surface will forever include the mighty Enable and Stradivarius, Godolphin recently raced a half-brother to Guineas hero Coroebus to name just one. Tracks learn about the adaptability of the surface all the time, with the recent extreme temperatures providing a new challenge. “Without all-weather racing, there wouldn’t have been any racing in the recent cold snap,” remarks Mark Spincer.
2022 saw two ARC initiatives to increase the quality of racing their tracks, one of those aimed specifically for (winter) all-weather racing. The mother company of Lingfield Park, Newcastle, Southwell and Wolverhampton announced a further bonus of over £1,000,000 not just added to prize money, but to reward connections of the most consistent performers during the winter months.
“While it is early days, some eagle-eyed trainers have already seen the chance to bag a bonus, of course we would love to attract more horses and their connections to our four all-weather tracks. We know that, for many, jump-racing is the winter focus in the UK, but all-weather racing during this period has a wide fan base both domestically and abroad,” concludes Spincer.
Coinciding with the exact timeframe of the All-Weather Championships, the bonus aims to reward consistency in given periods, no matter what the rating of the horse. Points scored go towards a “Horse of the Month” prize with rising extra money paid out from February onwards as well as £700,000 in bonuses for the horses with the most points at the end of the season.
The scheme clearly aims to enhance field sizes. Giving trainers, owners, jockeys as well as stable staff monetary reasons to race on at ARC tracks.
Germany
Germany's all-weather racing scene was quite vibrant at the end of the last century, but it has been in steady decline for some time now.
In 2019, Neuss racecourse closed its doors for the last time, and along with 144 years of turf racing went the second of the all-weather tracks.
Winter racing is now taking place at Dortmund racecourse only. Dortmund has a grass and an all-weather track, thus providing racing literally all year round.
However, the all-weather surface is a dirt track, Germany does not have any tracks with an artificial surface. The surface has not been renewed for some time now and has a huge kickback.
Racing takes place on roughly 14-day intervals, at time of writing eight meetings are planned this winter. Races are part of the French PMU funding and receive other subsidiaries. Generally, there are six-race-cards, the quality being no better than class 3 handicaps – Germany's second lowest class, with some sellers thrown in for good measure.
Prize money is at basic level for these types of races, meaning total purses per race do not exceed €5.500. Broadly speaking, all-weather racing in Germany caters for the very base level of the sport, with major trainers and owners very rarely venturing into this sphere.
Racing on the sand does count towards the Trainer and Jockey Championships in Germany, and this might lure the odd runner from the bigger stables. Plans for a second track with a synthetic surface have been mulled over by Deutscher Galopp for some time, but along with the general dire financial situation of racing in Germany, it remains only a very distant possibility at the moment.
Ireland
All-weather racing finally reached Ireland in 2007 with the remodelling and re-opening of Dundalk Stadium. It’s the only track in Europe to combine horses and dog-racing and judging by online reviews. This has been a huge success with fun-loving Dubliners.
From October till March, the track stages some 43 meetings, with at least once a week racing – mainly on a Friday night with floodlight and dog-racing following. Racing on the Polytrack continues sporadically throughout the year.
While the quality of handicaps is clearly not premium class, the track does stage a fair share of quite decent 2yo and 3yo maiden races, and these are contested by even the biggest yards in the country.
In addition, Dundalk stages two Gp.3 and three Listed races. Plans for the second Irish all-weather track have been developing for a number of years now, with planning permission for a new track at Tipperary expected to go ahead in early 2023.
This clearly points to an ever-increasing demand to stage flat racing all year round, largely independent from weather influences. In fact, many races on Dundalk's cards continue to be oversubscribed and operate with reserves – a further pointer to huge demand.
Smaller yards definitely target horses for Dundalk races and have owners who buy horses for this sphere. While larger yards may pick and choose their races at Dundalk, smaller trainers rely on the extra income to keep the yard going through the long winter months.
As jump-racing starts losing its tag of catering for the ‘small man,’ the domination of just a few trainers and owners is becoming more and more blatant by the year. All-weather racing gives a different type of trainer and owner a new lease of racing life.
With added entertainment around the product, Dundalk has created a largely vibrant scene; being in a prime spot no doubt helps, but all-weather racing with regular consistency is clearly a success story in Irish racing.
