Horserace Betting Levy Board

The Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) has agreed around £11m in new grants to a number of projects and initiatives across the sport from April 2025 onwards. 

HBLB has already made other non-fixture related grants of just over £1.8m towards three initiatives set out in Note 1 below, as well as the already-announced £93m towards prize money and the sport’s regulation and integrity. 

The £11m comprises £8.1m in funding to non-racing fixture grant awards to the end of 2025, £2.76m for veterinary science and education research programmes and for equine disease surveillance and protection and £190,000 to rare horse breed societies. 

Details of the specific veterinary and equine grants will be publicised in due course while the rare breed society grants can be found here.  

HBLB supports a range of activities through the non-fixture grant awards with the main expenditure items in 2025 providing funding for promotion of the sport, people training and development and Thoroughbred health, welfare and aftercare. 

The £8.1m for the non-fixture grants, which cover nine months to 31 December 2025, represents a £2.4m increase on the £5.7m awarded for a 12-month period in April 2024 to March 2025. The nine-month period is an interim arrangement to facilitate the move to a January to December 12-month award period starting from 2026, for which an application window will open in summer 2025. 

Grant Awards 

The largest grant award is £3.62m to the sport’s National Marketing Campaign being carried out by Great British Racing. Due to launch in May, the activity is designed to raise the profile of and encourage fan engagement with horseracing. This grant represents the first funding that HBLB has provided for national marketing since 2022 and the £3.62m allocated is the biggest single amount HBLB has given to a campaign of this type. One fifth of the funding for this promotional campaign is directed towards HorsePWR, highlighting British racing’s commitment to the welfare of the racehorse both on and off the track. In addition, HBLB has made a contribution of £207,000 towards other equine welfare communications,  emphasising the prioritisation of horse welfare for racing and helping tackle misconceptions about the sport. This includes support for National Racehorse Week. 

The British Racing School (BRS) and National Horseracing College (NHC) have received a combined sum of £2.0m to continue their delivery of the training of future stable staff and the apprenticeship programme. The funding also provides support for the Jockey Coaching Programme (JCP) hosted at the BRS and the Racing Staff Development Programme (RSDP) at the NHC.  

The JCP delivers training to all apprentice and conditional jockeys, until one year post-claiming in race riding. The RSDP offers work-based training to develop and enhance the skills of those currently employed in the horseracing industry. 

Over £230,000 has been awarded to the Scottish Racing Academy, which operates a wide range of courses in Scotland and the North of England, providing those students with theoretical and practical skills in racehorse care and exercise, and promoting career development in the horseracing industry.  

HBLB has continued to award grants for jockey support services, with £60,000 towards jockey nutrition and £112,764 towards physiotherapy at racecourses. The jockey nutrition team deliver in-person clinics across the Injured Jockeys’ Fund centres and at racecourses to provide nutrition advice to jockeys. The racecourse physiotherapy grant from HBLB helps to ensure that a physiotherapist is present at every fixture. 

The Pony Racing Authority has received funding of £52,500 to support its Pathway into Racing Programme. This grant supports the running of taster days, training days and the Academy Programme which together act as an entry point for children to experience pony racing and progress towards a career within the industry.  

HBLB will continue to support the BHA’s national careers marketing campaign (£122,243) which aims to ensure a pipeline of applicants into training or employment across the entire racing industry. The BHA team also provide careers support for industry prospects and encourage training with the various providers.    

The National Stud has been awarded £210,000 towards its education programme, which delivers training to the thoroughbred breeding industry.  The funding supports two of its courses: the Level 3 Stud Management and Sales Consignment Course and the new Thoroughbred Industry Access Programme. 

A total of £67,362 has been awarded to the Thoroughbred Breeders Association’s (TBA) education programme which creates initiatives to promote and support good employment practices in the breeding industry to support staff recruitment and retention.  

HBLB has awarded grants of up to £269,438 to the Horseracing Industry People Board’s (HIPB) staff costs and Workforce Analysis and Forecast Project to support the implementation phase of the recently published workforce strategy.  

Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) will receive £360,000 to support its work in driving continuous improvement in equine aftercare.  This includes the Education Programme and the Vulnerable Horse Scheme (VHS).  The Education Programme is a key component in supporting racehorses in their second career as well as highlighting Racing’s commitment to aftercare.  It provides support and education to new owners about the care and best practice for the retraining of racehorses. The VHS provides a safety net for any horses that might fall into difficulty later on.   

HBLB has awarded grant funding of £338,597 to support point-to-pointing in recognition of the contribution the amateur sport makes to National Hunt Racing. Point-to-pointing supports the development of young horses and riders in preparation for racing under Rules, serves as an introduction to racing for owners and spectators and provides a second career option for older horses that once raced under Rules.  

Racing to School and Racing Together have been awarded a combined £375,000 to support the Racing to School Education Programme and Racing Together’s core activity. The education programme engages diverse groups of young people through learning whilst offering an introduction to horseracing and Racing Together aims to set up, inspire and communicate community engagement work across the sport.  

Grants are made with formal conditions and are subject to the monitoring and reporting requirements agreed between HBLB and each grant recipient. 

A summary of all the non-fixture grants is below: