Arena Racing Company

"There's too much racing." That is the familiar cry heard from most people connected to British horseracing. With that in mind, a potential reduction to next year's fixture list should be met with approval. Though that has been the case in many quarters, a leaked British Horseracing Authority (BHA) proposal on this topic has also ruffled a few feathers. The Racing Post reported on Monday that the BHA, in consultation with its fixtures and funding group comprised by racing's stakeholders, is working on a proposal to reduce the 2023 fixture...

The prizemoney investment plans for the Arena Racing Company's Programme Book One 2022, which runs from January through April, were confirmed on Thursday. These initiatives are part of ARC's £21.7 million 2022 prizemoney investment plan. The All-Weather Championships will be held at Newcastle for the first time, as previously announced, and Flat racing will return to Southwell with a new Tapeta surface. The £40,000 Coral Winter Oaks Trial will be held at that course on Dec. 7. There will also be Flat Class 5 and 6 bonuses to the winning...

The All-Weather Championships Finals Day will be held at Newcastle for the first time on Good Friday, Apr. 15, 2022. Started by the Arena Racing Company in 2013, the All-Weather Championships are now in its ninth season which begins on Tuesday, Oct. 19. There are six All-Weather Championships races, and the Listed Coral Burradon S. carded for Good Friday with total prizemoney on offer over £1 million. Lingfield, which previously hosted the meeting, will instead hold the new £395,000 All-Weather Vase that same day. The All-Weather Vase card, featuring six...

Bath and Kempton have both had their Wednesday evening cards moved to earlier in the day to avoid a timing clash with England's Euro 2020 semi-final against Denmark, the British Horseracing Authority announced on Sunday. Bath was due to end at 8:35 p.m. and Kempton's final race was slated for 8:50 p.m. The semi-final match begins at 8 p.m. "Having received applications from both The Jockey Club and Arena Racing Company, the BHA has approved the alternation of race times at both Kempton Park and Bath on Wednesday evening to...

The G1 St Leger will now be sponsored by Cazoo. Already announced as the sponsor for the G1 Cazoo Derby and G1 Cazoo Oaks, the UK's leading online car retailer has partnered with Arena Racing Company who own and operate Doncaster. The Cazoo St Leger Festival is scheduled for Sept. 8-11. The deal will also include year-round prominent branding for Cazoo at all 16 ARC racecourses. Alex Chesterman, founder and CEO of Cazoo, said, "We are delighted to partner with ARC on the new Cazoo St Leger Festival, home to...

Southwell Racecourse's fibresand surface will be replaced by Tapeta this spring and the project will be completed by the summer of 2021, the Arena Racing Company announced on Monday. A planning application was submitted for the new surface because the fibresand has come to the end of its operational life. Fibresand was first laid down in 1989, the start of all-weather racing at the Nottinghamshire venue. Tapeta, developed by Michael Dickinson and Joan Wakefield of Tapeta Footings, has already been laid down at Wolverhampton and Newcastle-also ARC courses-since 2014 and...

After around 2,500 spectators were admitted on the opening day of Doncaster's St Leger Festival on Wednesday as part of a pilot project for reintroducing fans to sporting events, the remainder of the festival will be behind closed doors with Prime Minister Boris Johnson once again limiting gathers to six people. The directive came from the Doncaster Council. A crowd of about 6,000 had been expected for the G1 St Leger on Saturday. "We have had confirmation this afternoon from the local authority that we will not be able to...

The British Horseracing Authority and Arena Racing Company have made the joint decision to suspend jumps racing at Southwell until further notice after two further fatalities occurred at Thursday evening's fixture. There have been six fatalities at the track between July 1 and Aug. 24 and a process is already underway to investigate them. Brant Dunshea, chief regulatory officer at the BHA, said, "The BHA and ARC met earlier this week and agreed a series of immediate measures which were put in place for this evening's meeting. The course was...

The Pertemps St Leger Festival at Doncaster is one of eight meetings that will be staged with crowds as part of stage five of the UK government's plan to return spectators to elite sport, the Racecourse Association announced on Wednesday. Doncaster's four-day Classic meeting from Sept. 9-12, a Sept. 21 Warwick fixture, and Newmarket's Cambridgeshire Meeting from Sept. 24-26 have all been greenlit to allow racegoers in limited fashion. In Doncaster's case, a maximum of 3,640 spectators will be allowed on the first day, increasing to 6,202 for the final...

Arena Racing Company tracks could be at the forefront of a return to racing in Britain when the time comes for the sport to resume following its suspension due to the coronavirus pandemic. Any resumption will be behind closed doors on the Flat, but only when Government advice permits, a point British Horseracing Authority chief executive Nick Rust has again reiterated. Should there be a heavily quarantined reintroduction, two of Arena's all-weather tracks are likely to have the facilities required to host such a scenario-Lingfield and Newcastle. Martin Cruddace, chief...

As the coronavirus outbreak worsens, UK racing's leadership, including racecourses, participants and the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), will meet on Monday to discuss the sport's coronavirus plan going forward. In the immediate future, race meetings will likely be held without spectators through at least the end of March and the UK fixture list will also be under discussion. The goal of the meeting is to agree on a programme that is sustainable in the light of possible staff absences, including in critical roles, while protecting the industry's workforce and freeing...

Bradley Hunt and Alex Slade have been appointed to the roles of Chief Finance Officer and General Counsel, respectively, of the Arena Racing Company (ARC), the company announced on Monday. Both are new roles within ARC, and form part of the senior management team. They will answer to ARC Chief Executive Martin Cruddace and the ARC Board. Hunt, previously with Collinson Group as a finance director, has also worked in the past for Cinime, Pias Entertainment Group and Rapp Ltd. He will oversee all financial affairs of the company and...