EMHF Racing Industry Survey

Article by Paull Khan

In this issue, we take a novel perspective on our region’s national racing industries. As well as looking at various measures of their scale, we will – perhaps for the first time – consider these in the context of the overall size, population and wealth of the countries in question. 

Let us look at the big numbers first. Our region boasts over 300 racecourses staging thoroughbred racing, between them putting on nearly 5,000 races and running over 30,000 races for prize money of nearly €600M. These races are competed for by nearly 30,000 owners, 4,500 trainers and 4,300 jockeys. The average prize money across all 21 countries is – perhaps surprisingly – as high as circa €19,000 and the average field size a very respectable 9.1 (runners per race). It is also noteworthy that those horses which race average over five starts per year.

We produce over 27,000 thoroughbred foals – representing nearly one in three of the global foal crop.

Before looking at how these figures break down between the 21 countries, let us consider the context within which each racing industry exists: how big, how populous and how rich is each nation?

An early observation is the enormous disparity in their size. Our largest racing nation is not a factor of 9 bigger than our smallest, nor of 90, nor even 900. The Channel Islands could fit into Libya nearly 9000 times!

Turkey and Germany boast the highest human populations, some way ahead of Britain and France. 

In terms of overall size of the national economy, Germany is some way ahead of Britain and France. But when we look at how this wealth is spread across the population, a very different picture emerges. The wealthiest average citizen is to be found in Norway, with Switzerland and Ireland filling the places.

With that backdrop, our respondents answered questions on the scale and nature of their racing in the following way.

France boasts twice as many thoroughbred tracks as any other country, and together with Britain, accounts for 60% of the region’s total. Five of our members – Channel Islands, Cyprus, Hungary, Netherlands and Norway have just a single active racecourse.

Many of the French tracks race infrequently and, when looking at the number of individual days’ racing offered, Britain is the clear winner, with nearly four meetings taking place every single day. It is a similar story with the number of races run.

As for total prize money on offer, Britain and France are well clear of the field, accounting between them for nearly 70% of the region’s overall pot. 

But when it comes to average prize money per race, Britain (€21,527) drops to third behind both France (€29,098) and Ireland (€23,676).

All nations strive for significant average field sizes, in many cases looking to 8 as the magic number. It is interesting to note that the region as a whole comfortably exceeds that target – the EuroMed average being 9.2 runners. It might be expected that Ireland sits atop this table, but the fact that Morocco shares this lead, with Libya a close third, will surprise many.

The figures confirm Ireland’s numerical breeding dominance, its foal crop almost equating to that of France and Britain put together. A striking feature of these tables is Turkey’s high ranking on many measures. Foal crop is a case in point – Turkey now produces nearly four times as many thoroughbreds as either Germany or Italy. The country also makes a top-four spot in number of race days staged, number of races run and prize money offered. There is an argument to be made that Turkey should now be considered as being part of the ‘big four’ of EuroMed racing.

There has been much discussion in recent years, around the European Pattern Committee table and elsewhere, about the need for Europe to bolster its staying and sprint divisions. Countries were asked how many flat races they ran (a) at distances up to and including 1200m/6f (which is how, for the purpose of this exercise, we have defined ‘sprints’; (b) at distances between 2400m/12f up to 3200m/16f (which we have termed ‘Classic+); and (c) of 3200m/16F or longer (which we have called ‘long-distance’).

Britain stages more than double the sprints of any other country. Before one gets to either France or Ireland, one finds Turkey, Cyprus, Morocco, Italy and Libya.

On average, the region allocates 18% of our races to the sprinters. It is noteworthy – and a complete surprise to the author - that France appears right at the bottom of this particular table, with only 4.8% of its races being sprints.

Italy leads the way in running races in the ‘Classic+’ category. Here, the average allocation is 13.4%. While France (15.1%) is slightly above that, both Ireland (6.6%) and Britain (6.2%) are well below this figure.

But when it comes to true long-distance races, Britain is a clear leader, staging more than half of those in the whole region. Half of our countries do not stage a single long-distance race. Percentage-wise, both Britain and Ireland give the same exposure to long-distance races, at 1.2% of the total.

So, to return to the question of relativity, let us look first at which countries have the highest and lowest density of racecourses. Specifically, we’ve calculated how many tracks each country has for every 100,000sq.km. Norway, with its sole racecourse, has the lowest density, with only one-third of a racetrack in each of its 100,000sq.kms.  The figures reveal that Ireland, Britain and France have a remarkably similar racecourse density, posting figures of 24, 26 and 31 tracks/100,000sq.km respectively. But the runaway winner in this category is little Channel Islands. For France to match its racecourse density, it would need to build more than 2,500 new racecourses!

We remarked earlier on Ireland’s preeminent position in the breeding sector. But when one takes the human population into account, the findings are staggering. If one looks at the number of thoroughbreds born annually per million of the population, Britain has 68 foals, France 88 foals, Cyprus is a surprise second with 121 foals, but Ireland is on a different planet, with 1367.

Finally, we ask how each country’s prize money allocation stacks up against its national wealth. In other words, how much of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) does it spend on prize money for races? The figure we’ve chosen is annual prize money in Euros per $bn GDP. France and Britain come out near identical in third and fourth with €72K and €71K respectively. Ireland is comfortably ahead with €120K. But the runaway winner, remarkably, is Cyprus, which boasts £235K in prize money for every $bn of their national GDP.

And so, the answers to the quiz: Q1 You could fit 8,886 Channel Islands into Libya. Q2 Ireland and Morocco boast the highest average field sizes. Q3 France has the lowest percentage of its races that are sprints. Q4 Slovakia has the highest percentage of its races that are 2m/3200m+. Q5 Channel Isles has the most racecourses per square km. Q6 Ireland breeds the most thoroughbreds per million of its population. Q7 Cyprus devotes the highest proportion of its national wealth to prize money. Well done if you got those right!  

Sources: Country size data - Nationsonline.org (except Channel Islands, Wikipedia); Population data – worldpopulationreview,com (except Northern Ireland and Channel Islands, Wikipedia); GDP data – worldometers.info (except Northern Ireland, Channel Islands, Wikipedia); Exchange Rates – Xe Currency Converter. All other data – the Racing Authorities themselves.