Premier racedays headline 2024 British fixture list

The British Horseracing Authority has released its long-awaited 2024 fixture list. The introduction of Premier racedays had already been announced, while there has also been an effort to significantly boost Sunday racing.

There will be 170 Premier raceday cards in 2024 across 38 courses. In comparison only 115 meetings in 2023 would have met the criteria which the BHA believes shows the willingness of courses to improve the product they are offering.

It is believed that by creating two tiers it will help point customers towards the headline meetings, and by giving them more space in the 2-4pm slot giving them "room to breath" will allow the sport to better promote stories and improve betting revenue.

During the window there will be two Premier fixtures with only one other allowed in the 2-4pm slot on 33 Saturdays while on the remaining 19 four meetings will be allowed. Of the others, five meetings will begin earlier than this year with the addition of a new fixture at Chelmsford making six. There will be 36 meetings starting later than this year.

As for the famously packed Saturday on July 13, Newmarket, York and Ascot will race between 2-4pm while Chester will start later with Hamilton and Salisbury in the evening.

Sunday racing will feature better quality racing and also a trial of evening racing. There will be 29 Premier Sunday racedays.

There will be a trial of six Sunday evenings in the first quarter of 2024 with £145,000 in prize-money required for each, while there will be additional payments for jockeys and grooms involved at these meetings.

Premier racedays will benefit from a total of £3.8m in funding from the Horserace Betting Levy Board.

Another issue addressed is that of field sizes, statistically at their lowest