General Prize Fund
This page is provided for reference only. The GPF grant was replaced by the ratecard funding mechanism in June 2020 following the resumption of racing during the Covid outbreak. This meant that HBLB funding would be allocated directly to each race with a view to maintaining minimum values at the highest possible level at a time when racecourse executive contributions were under extreme pressure. That new ratecard funding mechanism was then adopted permanently, details of which can be found at https://hblb.org.uk/page/125.
General Prize Fund (GPF) grants were allocated by the HBLB to racecourses each year, to be paid out as prize money to horsemen, within that calendar year and across the relevant code, in accordance with the Rules of Racing issued by the BHA.
The prize money allocation to each racecourse was calculated according to a formula based on (i) a racecourse's own Executive Contribution (EC, also known as merit) and (ii) the amount of off-course horserace betting turnover generated by certain fixtures.
The total amount available in GPF grants for 2020 was £37.2m (2019: £37.2m). The split of the GPF between Flat and Jump was calculated to ensure that the overall 60/40 funding split was maintained. Owing to the fact that a higher proportion than 58.4% (inc. abandonment allowance) of the non-GPF prize money funds for 2020 were likely to be related to Flat racing, this was compensated for in the balance of the GPF.
Therefore, the £37.2m GPF was allocated between codes as follows:
|
|
FLAT |
JUMP |
TOTAL |
|
GPF Budget |
£18.75m |
£18.45m |
£37.2m |
|
Flat/Jump split |
50.4% |
49.6% |
|
For 2020, 60% of the GPF was allocated according to each racecourse’s merit performance, and 40% according to betting performance.
The betting allocation was distributed in proportion to racecourses’ annual off-course betting turnover across all Relevant Betting Fixtures (RBFs). For the 2020 GPF allocation, each racecourse’s betting percentage was calculated by taking an average of their betting performance across all relevant RBFs for 2017 and 2018.
Merit performance was calculated based on the average EC committed per Relevant Merit Fixture (RMF) in 2018.
Once a racecourse’s total GPF grant for the year was determined, how much of that sum the racecourse receives for each fixture is calculated in proportion to the total value of the fixture.