{"id":8423,"date":"2023-07-27T10:06:36","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T10:06:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bettingwebsites.org.uk\/?page_id=8423"},"modified":"2023-07-27T10:08:06","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T10:08:06","slug":"how-often-do-less-than-6-horses-run-in-a-race","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bettingwebsites.org.uk\/articles\/horse-racing\/how-often-do-less-than-6-horses-run-in-a-race\/","title":{"rendered":"How Often do Less Than 6 Horses Run in a Race?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"LessAverage field sizes are falling in UK racing, that\u2019s an undeniable fact.<\/p>\n

The British Horse Racing Authority began keeping records in 1995, and in 2022 average field sizes hit their lowest figure since records began.<\/p>\n

This damages every part of the industry, from bookmakers to owners and trainers, not to mention the racecourses themselves, and even the punters.<\/p>\n

Fewer horses mean less money, and less money means smaller purses, and this in turn means fewer horses will be entered into each race, creating a nasty downward spiral that would kill the sport completely if it continued.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not there yet, far from it, but there is undoubtedly a problem to be solved here.<\/p>\n

Problems can\u2019t be solved until we understand what is causing them though, so let\u2019s look at a few stats and then talk about why this is happening in the first place.<\/p>\n

Frequency of Races with Fewer than 6 Runners<\/h2>\n

\"Race<\/p>\n

The alarming thing about the statistics in this area<\/a> isn\u2019t just that we have hit record numbers of races with fewer than 6 runners, but that the number of races with less than 6 runners has been increasing year on year since 2018 (save for 2020, but COVID skews the data there).<\/p>\n

This shows that the problems are persistent, and the trend is a long running one.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worse for jumps than for flat racing, but in total, 18.68% of all races had fewer than 6 runners in 2022.<\/p>\n

If we look back a few years we can see this steady increase occurring:<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Year<\/th>\n# Races<\/th>\nRaces < 6 Runners<\/th>\n% Races < 6 Runners<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
2022<\/td>\n10,216<\/td>\n1,908<\/td>\n18.68%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2021<\/td>\n10,353<\/td>\n1,589<\/td>\n15.35%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2020 (COVID)<\/td>\n7,882<\/td>\n769<\/td>\n9.76%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2019<\/td>\n10,086<\/td>\n1,439<\/td>\n14.27%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2018<\/td>\n10,406<\/td>\n1,472<\/td>\n14.15%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

There is something of a silver lining if we look at the difference between jumps and flat racing \u2013 although it is a very faint silver lining.<\/p>\n

While the number of races with less than 6 runners in jumps racing overall topped out at 28.02% in 2022, higher than it has ever been before, the number of races with fewer than 6 runners on the flat was 12.95%, which is actually down from 13.17% in 2021.<\/p>\n

So the staggeringly high percentage of jumps races with small fields is driving up the overall average, but the flat racing stats are being helped out by AWT courses.<\/p>\n

You see, flat races on turf had fewer than 6 runners in 15.61% of races in 2022, which is up on the previous year by about 0.84%; but interestingly, the figures for races on all weather tracks are much lower.<\/p>\n

Just 9.13% of races at AWT courses had fewer than 6 runners, down 1.7% from 2021 figures. We will discuss the potential reasons for this in the next section, but could it be that owners and trainers are happier to race their horses at AWT courses because they don\u2019t suffer the same effects from global warming?<\/p>\n

Here is the 2022 data we have been talking about in an easier to digest format:<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Race Type<\/th>\n# Races<\/th>\nRaces < 6 Runners<\/th>\n% Races < 6 Runners<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Jump (overall)<\/strong><\/td>\n3,878<\/td>\n1,087<\/td>\n28.03%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hurdle<\/td>\n2,109<\/td>\n430<\/td>\n20.39%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Chase<\/td>\n1,429<\/td>\n589<\/td>\n41.32%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Flat (overall)<\/strong><\/td>\n6,338<\/td>\n821<\/td>\n12.95%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Turf<\/td>\n3,741<\/td>\n584<\/td>\n15.61%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
AWT<\/td>\n2,597<\/td>\n237<\/td>\n9.13%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Look at those numbers for steeple chases \u2013 over 41% of races had fewer than 6 runners.<\/p>\n

This number was holding around the 30% mark in previous years but has shot up over 10% in 2022, showing that owners and traders are keeping their more experienced horses away, or potentially sending them to compete elsewhere.<\/p>\n

There have always been fewer runners on average in steeplechases, but the gap has never been this wide before.<\/p>\n

It was back in 1995 when records began that the next highest figure was recorded, that being 37.21%, but only in 8 of the 27 years from 1995 to 2021 has the average been above 30%, and in 5 of those years it actually dipped under 20%, falling as low as 14% in 2005, 2006, and 2008.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the percentage of hurdle races with fewer than 6 runners stayed sub-10% from 2001 until 2013 (apart from a blip in 2003), bottoming out at just 2.98% in 2005.<\/p>\n

It was around 2014 that things started to go wrong and the numbers have pretty much doubled since then.<\/p>\n

Why are Field Sizes Falling in UK Racing?<\/h2>\n

\"UKThere are a couple of reasons, with money being the main one.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the only factor, however, as global warming is starting to have an impact too. You can roll your eyes at that if you want to, but we have had warmer weather making the ground firmer, and trainers have been reluctant to race their nags on ground that is too hard, especially when it comes to younger horses.<\/p>\n

This goes back to the point we made about all weather tracks seeing by far the fewest races with small field sizes. It seems that owners and trainers are happier to race their horses on these surfaces than on turf.<\/p>\n

Another potential issue is that racing is being spread too thin. If there were fewer races on the same days, maybe those races would have more runners? This is partly down to poor scheduling, and partly down to the decline in spectators turning up at the races in the first place, because<\/p>\n

The real issue is prize money though.<\/p>\n

Prize money has been on the decline for years, dropping 11% between 2018 and 2021 alone.<\/p>\n

In fact, the UK is home to just 6 of the world\u2019s richest 100 races, with countries like Australia, the US, Hong Kong, and Japan hosting the lion\u2019s share.<\/p>\n

Even in our bigger Group 1 races, the average prize pales in comparison to that in other big horse racing nations:<\/p>\n