British Horseracing Authority

Having been off since Mar. 18 due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, racing in Britain has officially been given the go-ahead by government to return on Monday behind closed doors. British racing's much-awaited return will take place in the form of a 10-race all-weather card at Newcastle, where all 10 races have been fully subscribed with 12 runners. Oliver Dowden, secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, said, "I'm delighted to announce today that the government has published guidance which allows competitive sport to resume behind closed doors from...

Scottish racing is making plans to resume on June 22 behind closed doors with a meeting at Ayr. A provisional list of Scottish fixtures has been published through August, and discussions are taking place between Scottish Racing and the Scottish Government to support the fixtures as Scotland plans to exit lockdown. With racing still expected to begin again in England on June 1, the British Horseracing Authority has released further details on the screening processes for personnel planning to attend race meetings. As part of the declaration process, trainers and...

The remainder of the provisional June racing programme from June 9-30 was published by the British Horseracing Authority on Monday. Previously, the first week of racing, from June 1-8 was released, while on Friday, the complete running order of Royal Ascot was also revealed and on Saturday, the BHA summer fixtures and safety guidelines were announced. The remainder of the June programme will appear on www.britishhorseracing.com website in the coming days. After the first week's emphasis on juvenile racing, the focus shifts to 3-year-olds and up. Scotland and Wales have...

The British Horseracing Authority has published a provisional fixture list for the remainder of June, July and August. Racing's governing body had previously released the programme for racing's first week of resumption from June 1, and says the full programme for the remainder of June will be published on Monday. The BHA also published its guidelines for the safe resumption of racing. "We had originally hoped to complete and publish the June race programme this week, however with elements of this still to be finalised, doing so would have provided...

The movement of the G1 St James's Palace S. and G1 Coronation S.-and the majority of the 2-year-old races--to the back end of the Royal Ascot programme are among the changes made to the meeting, which is set for its original dates of June 16 to 20 and will be staged without spectators. Six extra races have been added to the five-day stand for this year only, with seven races set for the first four days and eight on the final card. In order to maximize the time between the...

After the British Horseracing Authority released a policy to ensure that Royal Ascot's 2-year-old races were made up of the highest quality fields possible despite the challenges posed by the coronavirus on Friday, that scheme has now been tweaked to include all trainers after discussions with the National Trainers Federation and the Racehorse Owners Association, the BHA announced on Tuesday afternoon. The policy is intended to manage the demand for 2-year-old runs in the first eight days following the June 1 resumption of racing and was part of a larger...

There is one thing about the delayed start to the flat season-it means that more trainers are still riding Classic dreams than is normally the case by mid-May. Mark Johnston is the winningmost trainer in British history-he has saddled 4508 winners in the country-and each year since 2017 he has sent out in excess of 200 winners in a season. So chances are Johnston has more than a few horses in his Kingsley Park Yard in Yorkshire to look forward to when racing in Britain resumes presumably early next month....

Mark Johnston, Britain's winningmost trainer, gives up an update on some of his stable stars and shares his thoughts on the BHA's Review of the Buying and Selling Practices of Bloodstock and Racehorses.

The British Horseracing Authority is working its plans for a return of racing off a June 1 resumption date that will begin with a meeting at Newcastle, it revealed on Thursday evening. The governing body had released further details on Wednesday of its plans for the first seven days of racing's return, including dates for the season's first four Classics, without a concrete start date, but a release on Thursday began, "Following the UK Government's publication of a provisional timeline for the return of sport, we are now planning for...

The minimum prize money amounts allowed under the Rules of Racing for the first 10 weeks of British racing have been published, the British Horseracing Authority announced on Thursday. After a £15.7 million contribution from the Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB), racing's leaders have agreed to minimum values which will exceed, on average, 80% of the previously permitted minimum levels, with an emphasis of supporting prize money levels at the middle and grassroots level of the sport to retain as many owners and horses-in-training as possible. Group 1 Flat races...

In its latest update on Wednesday, the British Horseracing Authority's Flat Pattern Committee revealed that plans remain for the G1 2000 Guineas and G1 1000 Guineas to be staged on June 6 and 7, respectively, while the G1 Investec Derby and G1 Investec Oaks are both set for Saturday, July 4. The G1 Eclipse S. will take place on July 5, and Royal Ascot remains on its original dates of June 16 to 20, though some changes to the order of races "will be confirmed as soon as possible." The...

The British government released its timeline for the potential resumption of sporting events on Monday, and in its Our Plan to Rebuild, cultural and sporting events conducted behind closed doors-like racing-are part of the second step of lifting the current coronavirus restrictions and would resume no earlier than June 1. The news was welcomed by British horseracing's executive committee comprised of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), the Racecourse Association, The Racehorse Owners' Association and the National Trainers Federation, who are "committed to plan for resumption on June 1st," according to...