Horserace Betting Levy Board

The trigger point for divided races – creating two races when one is oversubscribed – will fall from 20 declarations to 18 for races staged from tomorrow onwards.

Changes to Rules (F) 27, (F) 39 and (F) 102 have been put in place by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), with the support of the BPWP. The BPWP, comprised of Racing and Betting representatives and chaired by the Levy Board, endorsed this change following discussions with BHA’s Racing Department about options to make better use of the horse population and enhance betting opportunities.

The trigger point had been raised from 18 to 20 in recent years in order to reduce the call on the Divided Race Fund. The additional funds necessary to support this amendment and division of extra races will be provided from the Levy Board’s Racing and Betting Special Incentive Fund. Both divisions will continue to be run at their original value.

Alan Delmonte, Levy Board’s Operations Director and member of the BPWP said: “The BPWP and its sub group agreed this was a sensible area in which to make funds available to boost off-course betting and to provide the maximum number of opportunities for horses which would otherwise have been balloted out of the race”.