Stimulation of Wagering Heads Global Challenges at IFHA Conference

[Wandering Eyes]

Common problems, but common goals and shared solutions as well. From gene doping to jockeys’ mental health, that was the approach that united a wide-ranging agenda at the 52nd conference of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities in Paris yesterday.

True, the vexing issues arising for the European sport from Brexit permitted wry acknowledgement by a number of speakers—not least following British domination of proceedings on the nearby racetrack the previous afternoon—that the aspiration for greater communion between nations is not universally embraced. But a laudable exchange of relevant experiences enabled delegates to go home comforted that the love of the Thoroughbred makes ours, in many important ways, a game without frontiers.

The world beyond the Turf, for instance, might be startled by a new affiliation for Iran. But outside presumptions might also be confounded by the fact that a presentation about the industry there—from the ancient roots of horse breeding there, by nomadic tribes arriving from the steppes, to the lush modern pasture of Golestan province—was made by one of only two female speakers throughout the day. The other, moreover, was a sports psychologist who professed herself an outsider to racing until recently enlisted to help jockeys.

As such, a session on the British Horseracing Authority’s attempts to improve diversity should perhaps have been absorbed more urgently than any. Yes, even this one was made by a man. But Will Lambe of the BHA should be commended for stressing that the “social licence” upon which the sport depends, in an increasingly urban age, required far wider inclusion. He also noted how the strictly business case for an improved gender balance was unequivocal. Change “should be unashamedly about the bottom line as well as the moral imperative.”

And that bottom line, of course, is central to the challenge addressed in one of the global industry’s most pressing concerns: the stimulation of wagering turnover in an era when sports betting and other rival markets are experiencing explosive growth.

This important session was chaired by Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, vice chairman of the host federation and CEO of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, who noted how racing’s sharing of an expanding global betting market—valued at €106.5 billion overall in 2016—had become relatively stagnant. From 2010 to 2017, in fact, race turnover was unchanged even as sports betting had increased 6.9%. And projections to 2020 suggest a 1.3% lift for racing will be further outstripped by sports betting at 10.9%. In the much bigger picture, including lotteries and casinos and so on, the two sectors had each registered a 6% slice of the global gross gambling yield in 2017: race betting dropping from 7% in 2012, and sports betting rising from 6%.

“We don’t just compete for money,” Engelbrecht-Bresges reminded his audience. “We compete for time. When we look at how we position our sport, it is not only about wagering but about customer experience.”

His own authority, of course, has itself harnessed the sports betting boom. But what can racing do to fight its corner? “First of all, it’s absolutely necessary to widen our customer base,” Engelbrecht-Bresges said. “And especially to embrace technology to connect directly with customers and create relevant offerings.”

In other words, you should not expect new players to be drawn in by arcane or sophisticated wagering models. Other priorities included enhanced tote technology and commingling options, especially with exotic bets in view, and the protection of intellectual property and legality in the gambling market.

Engelbrecht-Bresges distinguished between the imperatives facing all racing authorities, such as guaranteeing integrity and welfare, and the value created for the sport by the provision of an appealing investment environment for new owners; and far better standards in public information.

“Information does not just help you establish your copyright and intellectual property but helps you to drive turnover,” he said. “If you provide information at the roulette table, for instance, and see the sequence of the results, you see 20 to 25% difference in turnover. And I think when you look at racing operators worldwide, I’m not sure there is a strong focus to produce this kind of information.”

What is already clear is the way adjustment to the nuts and bolts of programming can affect turnover. Two members of this panel—Richard Cheung, executive director of Customer and International Business Development at the HKJC; and Martin Panza, SVP of Racing Operations at the New York Racing Association—offered parallel evidence of the way turnover can be boosted.

Cheung cited domestic data, taken from over 2,000 races, that measured turnover spikes achieved by greater field sizes, for instance, or positioning of races later in the card. Wagering is attracted to better quality horses, so capturing the imagination of wealthy investors was as important as sourcing well-bred horses.

“You can’t have every day being an Arc day with six Group 1 races but still we try to optimise the management of the horse population,” Cheung said. “So on days when we don’t have star horses running, we have started to try to anchor those days on up-and-coming stars, horses coming through the ranks. These are natural drivers of followership and turnover.”

Cheung also detailed Hong Kong’s commitment to the expansion of commingling, and commended implementation of a world pool and international refinement of wagering models as key to future development.

Panza corroborated the effect of field sizes in his jurisdiction, and also shared experiments in niche stimulants to participation: programmes aimed at smaller barns, for instance, or “frequent flier” bonuses to prizemoney for horses that race repeatedly on NYRA tracks. He noted the difficult context of a much diminished foal crop, over the past decade, but demonstrated the turnover dividends from the construction and marketing of major racedays.

Above all he stressed the importance of adapting wagering opportunities to changing technology and social habits. Belmont and Saratoga, for instance, have deployed an app that enabled customers to know where the shortest line at a betting window might be, or the nearest restroom—with reciprocal benefits to NYRA, in tracking their behaviour and spending instincts.

In a later session, on international harmonisation of rules, delegates were cautioned that ambitions in commingling would be compromised by differences in regulation, to the detriment of its credibility as a wagering medium.

Another important session focused on the health, safety and welfare of jockeys. Using data from the UK and Ireland over the last 70 years, Dr. Giles Warrington said that the average 14-year-old male has increased in height by 16% and body mass by 65%. This was reflected in the average weight of admissions to the Irish racing academy rising from 37kg in 1978 to 55.9kg in 2018.

The obvious risks to mental and physical health were elaborated by the Irish sport’s senior medical officer, Dr. Adrian McGoldrick, who implored international action to raise weights. Of current Irish apprentices, he recorded that only one out of nine females and 13 of 49 males can claim their full weight concession.

If the stipulated weights for maidens, conditions and stakes races were to be raised, the only effect on the outcome would be in terms of race times. “More importantly, we will have happy and healthy jockeys riding, not dehydrated as in so many cases,” he said. “It is a potential win-win for all: owners, trainers, punters and riders.”

“We have to be conscious of our obligations to provide safe systems of work and in Europe there is legislation to deal with this. The last thing we want is for a solution to be imposed on us. We would be better off addressing the issue from within the sport.”

Warrington also detailed research into mental health problems arising, not just from the torments of controlling weight, but from the unique challenges of the rider’s calling. “Over half of the jockeys [surveyed] were experiencing at least one mental health problem,” he said. “One in two were classified as displaying symptoms of depression and perceived stress.”

Comparing these findings with an Australian study of elite athletes from other sport, the relative instances of depression were 57% against 27.2%; and of anxiety, 21.4% against 7.1%.

The schedule also encompassed briefings on doping control, where it was reported that the five reference laboratories engaged in Australia, France, Britain, Hong Kong and the United States, as conforming to the host federation’s protocols, would be doubled in the next five years; on quality control, where it was revealed that no fewer than 49% of Grade I races staged in 2017 did not meet the set parameters, prompting the recruitment as consultant of the BHA’s recently retired senior handicapper Phil Smith; on free movement, where familiar challenges regarding African Horse Sickness and Brexit were reprised, albeit without particularly taking matters forward; on gene doping, where the Domesday warning issued at the Asian Racing Conference was reiterated, there being as yet no detection method to prevent the nightmare scenario of the heritable genome being altered by gene therapy at the breeding stage.

Nonetheless the mood at France Galop’s headquarters was optimistic. The first of these conferences had 14 delegates from nine countries; here there were representatives from more than 50. “I’m very proud of the accomplishments of our Federation and its technical committees, under the leadership of many of you here today,” said IFHA chairman Louis Romanet. “That said, there is considerably more work to be done. Uniformity remains of utmost importance for our sport.”

But the last word is borrowed from the Iranian presentation, which quoted Darius the Great describing Persia as “a beautiful land with good horses and good people.” For whatever new difficulties we face in the 21st Century, that would seem a pretty timeless model for us all to take home.

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