Who Owns Britain’s Racecourses?

In the United Kingdom, horse racing is one of the most popular sports after football. Around six million people attend racecourses in Britain each year, around 40% of that figure being made up by women. The fact that it is as open to females as males is part of racing’s appeal, as is the fact that you don’t really need to understand the intricacies of it in order to enjoy yourself. Virtually everyone at a racecourse will know that the horse that crosses the finish line first is the winner, but few will know some of the other details.

Even some of the most knowledgeable racing fans would be unsure about who owns the actual racecourses that they spend their time visiting, for example. Even if they know who owns the course, they are unlikely to know very much about the company in question and what they do for racing. You might have a vague idea how such venues make money, but breaking it down more specifically is handy when you want to have a sense of how racing as a whole tends to make its money, including how much is paid in by the courses.

Looking At The Courses

At the time of writing, there are 59 racecourses in operation around the United Kingdom. This doesn’t include point-to-point courses, which tend to be much more ad-hoc and can essentially exist in little more than a field. We have also decided to leave out the racecourse at Folkestone, which is intact in terms of infrastructure but has no plans for further racing to take place on it.

Towcester Racecourse continues to operate greyhound racing but went into administration in 2019 and has not re-opened for horse racing since that point, unlike Hereford, which shut down in 2012 and re-opened in 2016.

In the table above we have information on the racecourse, the county it is found in, what type of racing it offers, when it opened and who owns it.

As you can see, there are a wealth of different racecourse that come under the bracket of being run as ‘independent’ courses. This is often another way of saying that the course is owned by a group of people that allow it to be run as its own entity, such as Ascot Racecourse, which is officially owned by Ascot Racecourse Limited. Rather than go through each course individually, it is worth noting that that is the case in the majority of racecourses where the table indicates that their owners are ‘independent’.

Rather than spend our time explaining each course individually, therefore, we’re instead going to look at the owners themselves and tell you a little bit about them.

The Owners

As you can tell, there are two big owners involved with horse racing across the United Kingdom. The Jockey Club is the organisation that is largely responsible for numerous different aspects of the horse racing industry, so it is hardly a surprise that they’re also involved in the actual running of events. Arena Racing Company, meanwhile, are the other big players in the racecourse ownership market. Here is a look at all of the owners we can tell you about:

How Do Racecourses Make Money?

It is fairly obvious to point out that racecourses make money by selling tickets to attend events being hosted there. That is, ultimately, the bread and butter of a racecourse’s finances, with more than six million people attending courses in 2011. Even so, it is the diversification of racecourses that allows them to survive, with some featuring the likes of golf courses or driving ranges inside the courses themselves. By adding in greyhound tracks or being willing to host pop concerts, courses can make even more money.

Obviously a company needs to be relatively big in order to be able to diversify, which is why many of the independent courses tend to survive on television and media rights as well as the horse racing levy more than their own gate receipts. It is also difficult for courses to ensure that they’ll be able to offer fixtures, with the sheer number of horses not necessarily large enough to guarantee decent fields in all races. On top of that, there are limited numbers of popular dates that the courses all compete over.

In 2016, Newbury Racecourse made £15 million in revenues for the year up to December, with most of the money coming from race days as well as hosting parties and conferences. More than £300,000 came from an on-site hotel, whilst nearly £1 million was made from the Rocking Horse Nursery. Even so, the course would have made a pre-tax loss by selling £19 million worth of land for development. The same can’t be done by the likes of Ascot, which is a not-for-profit trust and needs to find other ways to make money.

The Jockey Club has a Royal charter against its name that means that it must reinvest any money made back into the horse racing industry. Thanks to owning the likes of Ascot and Cheltenham, the Jockey Club has the ability to sell advertising space as well media rights, plus it can host concerts when there is no racing. Even so, three-quarters of the income of Ascot comes from Royal Ascot week. It is a similar figure for Cheltenham and the Festival, whilst Aintree’s main income comes from the Grand National and surrounding race days.