BRITISH RACING: THE 852-FIXTURE RESET What happens if British Horseracing slashes its calendar by 41%, cutting 600 of its 1,452 fixtures? The sport transforms from a volume-heavy, betting-driven grind into a hyper-condensed, quality-first spectacle. This was mentioned by Wilf Walsh on @LuckOnSunday Here is the blueprint of a sport with 600 fewer meetings. THE 600 CASUALTIES To hit that number, the industry’s low-grade "filler" has to go: All-Weather Twilight (~200 cuts): The relentless volume-driven grind of winter nights at tracks like Wolverhampton and Southwell vanishes. Summer Jumps (~130 cuts): National Hunt racing between May and August is completely scrapped. Mid-Week Flat (~170 cuts): Tuesday-to-Thursday Class 5/6 summer racing at smaller rural tracks takes a massive hit. Low-Grade Winter Jumps (~100 cuts): Small-field, heavy-ground Class 4/5 meetings are culled to consolidate horses elsewhere. THE 852-FIXTURE CORE What survives is a fiercely competitive, top-heavy product: Protected Crown Jewels: All 52 Premier Racedays and mega-festivals (Cheltenham, Ascot, Ebor) remain untouched. Streamlined Saturdays: Instead of 4–5 meetings fighting for jockey availability and eyeballs, Saturdays feature just two premium turf meetings and one AWT fixture. Seasonal Purity: Jumps racing reverts strictly to an October-to-April winter sport. THE FINANCIAL SHOCKWAVE Cutting 41% of fixtures triggers an immediate crisis for smaller tracks. Independent racecourses survive on volume-based media rights payments; without those continuous fixtures, several face closure as major groups consolidate. However, there is a powerful financial upside. Funneling the existing horse population into 600 fewer meetings guarantees massive, competitive fields. Swelling field sizes triggers high-margin each-way betting and larger exotic pools, driving significantly more Levy yield per race to help offset the brutal drop in overall volume. Fewer races. Bigger fields. A brutal but potentially necessary reset. @NTFnews

A great read that links racing with the demise of Manchester United and like many aspects small events may lead to massive consequences #Carrick @ManUtd @RacingTV @AKBets theguardian.com/football/202…

Poor old Michael Carrick is forced to stay on and carry his burden. Alex Ferguson: they know not what they're doing. @ManUtd @talkSPORT #carrick #ManchesterUnited

bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6d9… I'm not sure about the point of having a budget day, with everything leaking days or weeks ahead of it. You might as well just have a gradual release of measures. It's just typical now of government: everything leaks, and there's no professional duty of confidentiality. @BBCPolitics @BBCNews @MoneySavingExp

BUDGET EVE: MARKING MY OWN HOMEWORK On 15 October I put a number on it: 80% chance machine games duty ends at 30% or higher. Last week's reports said 25%. If that's what we get tomorrow, my forecast was wrong, and I'll say so here on Wednesday. But no forecast changes this: even at 25%, I estimate it costs racing around £20 million. That's a reprieve, not a rescue. Racing has spent a month lobbying about a tax. It still hasn't published a plan for a sport that doesn't lean on high-street machines. Tomorrow I score my forecast. Who's going to score racing's plan? #HorseRacing @RacingPost

This raises so many questions around the management of racecourses and also the regulation of racecourses. How is racing allowed to take place with such poor and substandard facilities? This has created bad headlines in the national press and, once again, questions the welfare issue around jockeys and horses. This looks like a pattern of neglect rather than a few random issues. The real question is not why an injured jockey was transported to hospital in a horsebox. It is how a racecourse was allowed to develop multiple safety failings, accumulate four regulatory breaches since 2022, and continue operating without the underlying problems being resolved. The solution is not primarily another set of regulations. It is creating a system in which existing regulations are checked, failures are detected early, and those responsible face meaningful consequences. @PJAOfficial @NTFnews @TheRCA @RacehorseOwners

The most interesting aspect of the Manchester United debacle is how it gets out of the headlock and a triple-level headlock, with the ownership corrupted by an easy asset. The management with the CEO, director of football, and Jason Wilcox no experience. A team bought badly sometimes on the cheap. It will not be solved with just a change in manager. It needs a root-and-branch change. @ManUtd @footballontnt

Interesting gambling stats by country @RacingPost @AtTheRaces

A bit of fun #HorseRacingTips @TheRCA

Racing spent £7.2m telling Britain “The Going Is Good”. Estimated per extra paying adult: £58.42 acquisition cost The missing metric isn’t attendance. It’s retention. Show us the receipt—and who came back. Racing has a gift for meeting bad luck exactly where its marketing is aimed, and at this rate the Met Office will need a seat on the GBR board. cuttingcomment.com/the-going… @TheRCA @RacingPost @OLBG @AtTheRaces @AKBets

If this is correct giving up" political representation " this is huge for the sport. This needs clarification as regards whether the @rca will give power back and what it might mean for the BHA board? @jockeyclub @RacehorseOwners

Maybe we can try and connect the dots here. @RacingTV @RacingPost @MrTimeform #horseracingtips

jobs.careersinracing.com/job… This does actually look like fantastic opportunity, for someone who's got a good, solid background in finance @RacingPost

This was an attempt to stop all this, and they didn't get any support from the racing media. Unfortunately, racing can't look itself in the mirror. The damage done is now unrecoverable and there will be further job losses @RacingPost @AtTheRaces @FinalFurlongPod @backforprofit #Gambling𝕏 @HbfBritain

Great news for the Scottish Borders as the Tour de France 2027 comes through towns like Galashiels and Hawick. Something to look forward to next year as it goes through the different parts of the UK, including Liverpool, Cardiff, etc. @John2Win @Rachael2Win #cycling #tourdefrance #scottishcycling

Found this on a government website. It's interesting as a paper from the Office of Fair Trading. Year 2000. Looks very dated now! Start times are staggered 🤔 @HbfBritain #GamblingX @AtTheRaces @AKBets @geoffbanksbet

cuttingcomment.com/british-r… A governance structure. If a chair whom everybody is willing to succeed cannot turn warm words into signatures, it will not be for want of charm, and we should know why. @RacingPost @AtTheRaces

If this is true on its own, it will probably cost racing in the region of £20 million, but it's strange how it's still pitched as bad news, considering the alternative that was out there a couple of days ago. Racing needs an alternative plan. Otherwise, it's going to go through this each year. Let's hope Simon Cox, with his team, develops a strategy that can sustain the sport rather than be subject to the whims of the anti-gambling brigade and an unsympathetic government. Pity I didn't take the 4-1 with @AKBets that was available a couple of days ago. Can't be arsed to set up an account with all the admin and hassle it requires these days. Too much friction these days. @nickluck racingpost.com/news/industry…