Arena Racing Company

Season 12 of the All-Weather Championships kicks off at Newcastle on Tuesday, October 22, and once again culminates on Good Friday, April 18, with Finals Day at Newcastle and the All-Weather Vase at Lingfield Park. The £1-million Finals Day at Newcastle includes amendments to the BetUK Marathon Final, with the field size increased to 20 and a prize fund of £175,000 (from £150,000). The structure of the All-Weather Championships remains largely unchanged, with horses requiring a minimum of three runs on all-weather surfaces in Britain, Ireland and France during the...

Ascot Racecourse is set to return record prize-money of £17.5 million to the sport in 2024, having announced on Monday its financial results for the 12 months ended December 31, 2023. Turnover for that period rose by 9% to £110.9 million, with a pre-tax profit of £5.9 million--up from £3.4 million in 2022. The 2023 business summary highlighted several other points of interest: Gross profit percentage fell from 34.5% to 33.8%, reflecting increased costs and general inflationary economic conditions. Profit before tax increased by £2.5 million but EBITDA (Earnings Before...

At the time, one doesn't know if a minor skirmish will turn out to have been the opening salvo in a protracted war or merely a here-today-gone-tomorrow storm in a tea-cup. Regarding British racing's latest contretemps, we can only guess what will follow; but it is likely that the unexpected decision by Flutter (the parent company of several major bookmaking firms including Paddy Power and Sky Bet) not to take bets on Wednesday's meeting at Bath is merely the start of a major shake-up of the sport's finances. Flutter's decision...

Arena Racing Company (ARC), Racecourse Media Group (RMG), Tabcorp and 1/ST CONTENT have announced a new strategic alliance which brings together four content leaders of the horse and greyhound racing world, creating a network of rights holders that will distribute content across multiple international markets. ARC is the largest racing group in the UK, operating a total of 16 racecourses and 5 greyhound stadia around the country, while RMG is a British-based media rights management company. In Australia, Tabcorp is the largest gambling company operating multichannel wagering, media and gaming...

The UK Tote Group and Singapore Pools have signed a new agreement to commingle pools, made in partnership with Arena Racing Company (ARC) and Racecourse Media Group (RMG) as the media rights holders for British racing's 59 racecourses. The agreement sees both organisations combine liquidity, with customers of Singapore Pools betting into the UK Tote's pools on British meetings, creating bigger UK pools and ensuring an improved financial return to the sport. Simon Leong, chief product officer of Singapore Pools, said, "We are delighted to collaborate with the UK Tote...

Arena Racing Company has partnered with the Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation to create a series of apprenticeships at Lingfield Park Racecourse. The partnership, brought together by The Racing Pathway, will build an employee pipeline with diverse lived experiences and cultures, as well as supporting succession into more senior roles within the business. The Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation, which fosters opportunities for marginalised young people in the UK, provides mentoring, coaching, work experience opportunities, and bursaries for education and training. Lingfield is seeking applicants aged between 16-24, from ethnically diverse backgrounds,...

The £1 million All-Weather Bonus Scheme, which runs from the winter of 2023 through Good Friday in 2024, will return this season, the Arena Racing Company (ARC) announced on Wednesday. ARC's four all-weather racecourses, Lingfield Park, Newcastle, Southwell and Wolverhampton will once again host horses to compete for a range of bonus prizes, including five 'Horse of the Month' competitions and the overall 'Horse of the Year' title, which carries a first prize of £100,000. The bonus scheme will include all races across the four ARC all-weather racecourses from Oct....

After the news that the United Irish Racecourses (UIR) rejected a media rights deal earlier this week, Arena Racing Company (ARC) and Sky Sports Racing released a statement in support of the UIR on Thursday. The two companies will be negotiating with Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), UIR, and the Association of Irish Racecourses (AIR) for the UIR's media rights in the near future. The statement read, "Arena Racing Company and Sky Sports Racing are delighted that the opportunity to develop a partnership with the five United Irish Racecourses is now...

Betfred will sponsor the Betfred St Leger Festival after a multi-year partnership was reached between Betfred, Doncaster Racecourse, and the Arena Racing Company (ARC). Running from Sept. 14-17 in the autumn, the four-day festival will feature the final UK colts' Classic of the year--the G1 Betfred St Leger--as well as the G2 Betfred May Hill S., G2 Doncaster Cup, G2 Champagne S., and G2 Park S. Doncaster was granted city status as part of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022 which will be commemorated with the renamed...

War In Heaven (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}), Tennessee Dream (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), Colors Of Freedom (GB) (Mayson {GB}), Comedian Leader (GB) (Aclaim {Ire}), Glorious Angel (Ire) (Cotai Glory {Ire}), and Broughton's Flare (Ire) (Rip Van Winkle {Ire}) will split the £35,000 January Horse of the Month prize, Arena Racing Company announced on Wednesday. Part of the Arena Racing Company £1-million All-Weather Bonus initiative, the prize equals £5,833 per horse, who are in a six-way tie atop the leader board. Points are awarded for finishing first through fifth in...

Bobby Joe Leg (GB) (Pastoral Pursuits {GB}) and Queen Of Ipanema (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) will share the Horse Of The Month prize for October and November. Part of the new ARC £1-million All-Weather Bonus initiative, each horse will receive £15,000 for finishing tied at the top of the leader board having won their first three starts between the start of the competition and the end of November. The bonus runs from Oct. 18 to Good Friday, Apr. 7. Trained by Ruth Carr, Bobby Joe Leg scored his wins at Wolverhampton...

The Arena Racing Company (ARC) and The National Horseracing Museum (NHRM) have partnered to support the Newmarket-based charity. The multi-year deal was announced just before the start of National Racehorse Week on Sept. 10. ARC will specifically support the work undertaken within the Rothschild Yard at Palace House, historic home of NHRM. Working with Retraining of Racehorses ("ROR"), NHRM utilise the facilities at the Rothschild Yard to educate the public on the work that goes into retraining Thoroughbred athletes after their racing careers are over. In addition, NHRM holds daily...