Talking Horses: Sunday bonanza may not prove the answer to racing crisis

The air was thick with good intentions when the sport’s movers and shakers emerged from two days of what looked suspiciously like crisis talks in central London last week. Specifics, on the other hand, were in very short supply.

“Shared acceptance of the challenges”, “serious and radical changes” and “agreement of areas of focus for a strategy” were among the phrases in a joint statement issued by those in attendance, which ensured that most corporate-speak bingo cards were full well before halfway. And when a few snippets of detail did emerge on Sunday, these seemed not so much radical as strangely familiar.

Related:Blackbeard plunders Middle Park prize and leads home one-two for O’Brien

In part, that is because Peter Savill, a former chairman of the British Horseracing Board – which was itself replaced by the British Horseracing Authority as long ago as 2007 – has emerged as a prime mover behind the latest plans to unlock a better future for the sport. But as he explained on the flagship Luck On Sunday show on Racing TV, a stronger programme on Sundays, with terrestrial coverage, is seen as one idea which could bring a significant boost in income.

“The expansion of terrestrial televised racing is the big opportunity,” Savill said. “When racing is on television, the betting turnover can be as much as four times what it is when it’s not on terrestrial television.

“Sundays are a big opportunity. They’ve done the Sunday Series, which is six Sundays, and we’d like to see that expand to 20 or even more if possible. Ireland, France and other countries race on Sundays, that’s when people can go racing, and we haven’t taken advantage of that. Sunday has been ‘bouncy castle day’ so far.”

This would, admittedly, be a radical initiative, but the idea itself is hardly new. In fact, complaints that Sunday is being underexploited date back almost to the legalisation of racing and betting on Sundays around 30 years ago, and have relied on similar logic when it comes to other jurisdictions making it work. We are, after all, just a few days away from British (and Irish) racing fans’ annual trip to Longchamp for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, the finest Sunday showpiece of them all.

Thus far, however, British Sundays have remained stubbornly second-rate and untelevised by the terrestrial broadcasters, so it might be worth pondering why, if Sundays offer such an obvious commercial opportunity, it have been neglected for so long.

Consider the assumptions around betting turnover, for instance. It does indeed spike when a race meeting is covered by terrestrial TV – but on Saturday afternoons, which receive blanket coverage on ITV, racing faces little competition for punters’ attention, thanks to football’s ban on live TV coverage between 2.45 and 5.15pm.

The flipside, though, is that the most attractive Premier League matches of the weekend tend to be played 24 hours later, which for much of the year will offer stern competition to even the most high-profile and competitive race meetings, in terms of both viewers and the punters’ cash.

Sunday is also still very much seen as a “family” day by millions of people, which surely informs the “bouncy castle” approach to the marketing of Sunday racing which Savill derides. This does not mean that high-quality Sunday racing can never work in the UK, but the breezy assumption that “better” Sundays with TV coverage inevitably means the punters will do their bit highlights the extent to which Savill’s project, at least, is being driven by owners’ thinking and concerns.

Stradivarius, one of the most talented and popular stayers of recent decades, has been retired from racing and will take up stallion duties at the National Stud next year, Bjorn Nielsen, the eight-year-old’s owner, said on Monday.

Stradivarius registered seven wins at Group One level during seven seasons on the track, including three victories in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot from 2018 to 2020. He also landed the Goodwood Cup four years running from 2017 and was unbeaten in six outings at York, where he gained the 20th success of his 35-race career in the Group Two Yorkshire Cup in May.

On his final start, in the Goodwood Cup in July, Stradivarius finished just a neck behind Kyprios, 2022’s top-rated stayer.

Nielsen decided to retire Stradivarius following consultation with John Gosden, who trained the chestnut with his son, Thady.

“It would be hard to get him back now for Champions Day [in October],” Nielsen said, “and John just felt it would be unfair really to put him through it again as a nine-year-old next year.

“I never wanted to see this horse finish running in fifth or sixth somewhere in a race next year, I'd much prefer to see him go out on a high. Of course I would love to see him go on for another eight years, but I think it's time, and time for him to see if he can produce anything near himself in the next few years, which I certainly hope he can.”

Frankie Dettori, who was in Stradavarius’s saddle for almost all of his big-race wins, said on Twitter that “the mighty Strad” had “been a part of my life for the last six years,” adding: “A good friend, a wonderful horse, so many great times together.” Greg Wood

Savill presented details of his proposals to last week’s meeting in London, where senior executives from the British Horseracing Authority, the Thoroughbred Group – representing owners, trainers, jockeys and stable staff – and both large and small racecourses were all in attendance.

Only one of racing’s main interest groups was conspicuous by its absence from the guest list. You guessed it: the punters, who will be the ones expected to pony up for some or all of the extra prize-money that owners see as essential to keep the best horses in Britain and the racing competitive.

Sedgefield 1.00 Lucky Lover Boy 1.35 McTigue 2.10 Onenightintown 2.45 Legionar 3.20 Master Malachy 3.55 Idilico 4.30 Gentle Slopes

Ayr 1.14 Engles Rock 1.44 United Approach 2.19 Jordan Electrics 2.54 Judgment Call (nap) 3.29 Written Broadcast 4.04 Josiebond 4.39 Royal Regent 5.10 Tomorrow’s Angel

Southwell 1.51 Chess Player 2.26 Judge Earle 3.01 Dindin 3.36 Translink (nb) 4.11 Elham Valley 4.46 Red Happy 5.16 Barely Famous

Wolverhampton 5.00 El Hombre 5.30 Eldeyaar 6.00 Just Bring It 6.30 Cherish 7.00 Man Made Of Smoke 7.30 Melodramatica 8.00 Lockdown Lass 8.30 Renegade Rose

The owners have their issues, but so, as ever, do the punters. Those who show even the slightest hint of making a profit on their betting routinely face the closure of their accounts or restrictions that amount to the same thing. Score a decent win, meanwhile, and even a regular loser can face a struggle to withdraw their cash of Jarndyce v Jarndyce proportions. And the Gambling Commission, which is supposed to ensure that betting is “fair and open”, is quite clearly not up to the task.

A voice for the punters as racing’s rulers decide on the best way forward – to point out the benefits of a “minimum bet rule”, for instance – would certainly qualify as a “radical” move. But for the moment at least, it still seems to be a step too far.