海角大神 (BHA) has today announced that BHA Minimum Values have been reviewed and that the values for many race types, particularly those at the lower end of the prize money scale, will be raised as of 1 April 2015, in agreement with stakeholders.
BHA Minimum Values are the minimum prize money values that must be offered per race. The values are determined by class of race, with higher values for better quality races and also a maximum value (for races of Class 3 and below) to prevent overlap between classes.
The increases will, on this occasion, be directed mainly at the lower end of the prize money scale. BHA and stakeholders agreed that it is these races which are in greatest need of, and should benefit most from, a prize money uplift.
Ruth Quinn, Director of Racing for BHA, said:
鈥淚t was agreed at the outset that for 2015 the focus should be on increasing Minimum Values at the lower end of the sport. 聽We acknowledge that the cost of getting a horse to the races is increasing all the time and it is essential that we do what we can to assist those who are not always competing for the top prizes.
鈥淭his mirrors the reasoning behind the recent announcement that 拢4.2m of the bookmakers鈥� Additional Voluntary Contribution fund would be used to ensure that many Class 2 鈥� 6 races pay down to at least 6th place.聽 Behind both of these policies is a focus on encouraging participation and thereby addressing the current problem of small fields. 聽Integral to that challenge is assisting owners and trainers in meeting the costs of sending horses racing, especially if there鈥檚 a chance that it might stimulate a marginal increase in the average number of runs per horse.
鈥淩eaching agreement on Minimum Values is always a challenge as, understandably, racecourses and horsemen approach them from different viewpoints. From the perspective of racecourses, increasing Minimum Values is likely to result in a slightly reduced flexibility in terms of where to allocate funds, whereas the horsemen鈥檚 view is that there must be a minimum level at which any race is run, given the investment levels required to have a horse take part in a race.
鈥淧ushing Minimum Values too high can result in a race programme that is skewed toward the bottom end of the sport where races are cheaper to run; we saw such a scenario with the horsemen鈥檚 tariff system which existed during 2011 and 2012, for instance. At the same time, setting values too low only exacerbates the funding issues faced by those at the lower end of the sport.
鈥淭aking account of all the facts, we are satisfied that we have arrived at an appropriate outcome for 2015 and I would like to thank both racecourses and horsemen for their part in the process. We hope that the result ultimately helps us provide a prize money structure that better reflects modern economic realities.鈥�
The reviewing of BHA Minimum Values is an annual process that takes place in consultation with stakeholders. Minimum Values remained unchanged for 2014 owing to the introduction of the new Levy funding model and the focus on signing of Prize Money Agreements (PMAs) with 55 of the 59 racecourses.
The signing of PMAs has provided an undertaking to commit a minimum proportion of media rights revenues to prize money. While these agreements are helpful in dealing with the overall commitment made to prize money, they do not deal with its distribution between race classes and as such need to run in parallel with the BHA Minimum Value process.
Notes to editors:
1. The list of alterations which have been made to BHA Minimum Values is as follows:
- Flat 2yo Group 1 races raised from 拢145,000 to 拢150,000
- Flat 2yo Class 4 races raised from 拢5,800 to 拢6,100
- Flat 2yo Class 5 races raised from 拢4,000 to 拢4,500
- Flat 2yo Class 6 races raised from 拢3,000 to 拢3,500
- Flat Heritage Handicaps raised from 拢95,000 to 拢100,000
- Flat 3yo+ Class 5 races raised from 拢4,000 to 拢4,500
- Flat 3yo+ Class 6 races raised from 拢3,000 to 拢3,500
- Steeple Chase Grade 2 races raised from 拢45,000 to 拢50,000
- Steeple Chase Class 5 races raised from 拢3,300 to 拢3,800
- Novices鈥� Steeple Chase Grade 1 races raised from 拢40,000 to 拢45,000 (pre-agreed to increase by an additional 拢5,000 on 1 Jan 2016)
- Novices鈥� Steeple Chase Grade 2 races raised from 拢30,500 to 拢32,000
- Novices Steeple Chase Class 5 races raised from 拢3,300 to 拢3,800
- Hurdle Grade 1 races raised from 拢70,000 to 拢75,000 (pre-agreed to increase by an additional 拢5,000 on 1 Jan 2016)
- Hurdle Grade 2 races raised from 拢36,500 to 拢40,000
- Hurdle Class 4 races raised from 拢4,800 to 拢5,000
- Hurdle Class 5 races raised from 拢3,000 to 拢3,500
- Novices鈥� Hurdle Grade 1 races raised from 拢35,000 to 拢40,000
- Novices鈥� Hurdle Grade 2 races raised from 拢27,500 to 拢30,000
- Novices鈥� Hurdle Class 4 races raised from 拢4,800 to 拢5,000
- Novices鈥� Hurdle Class 5 races raised from 拢3,000 to 拢3,500
- National Hunt Flat Class 4聽races raised from 拢4,800 to 拢5,000
- National Hunt Flat Class 5 races raised from 拢3,000 to 拢3,500
2. The full list of all BHA Minimum Values is attached.
