The global pandemic surely had a catastrophic effect on international racing in 2020. And Britain, with the highest Covid death toll in Europe, must be one of the worst affected countries.
Logical conclusions both, but, according to the International Racing Bureau’s annual statistics, some way from the truth. Or, to use the fashionable term, fake news.
Yes, some huge racedays didn’t take place: the Dubai World Cup, the Arlington Million and the Canadian International spring to mind. But so many others, most notably Royal Ascot, Arc weekend, the Breeders’ Cup, the Melbourne Spring Carnival, the Japan Cup and the Hong Kong International Races, did go ahead and all featured international competition, albeit not always on the scale we have become used to.
In 2020, British trainers were responsible for 636 runners abroad, registering 94 wins and collecting £10.3 million in prize money. This is barely a third of the haul of £29.7 million achieved two years earlier.
But 2018 was a freakishly successful campaign, so a fairer comparison is against 2019, when £16.9 million was gleaned from a record 1,171 overseas sorties, meaning that, when placed against the previous 12-month period, 2020 produced 61 percent of the prize money from 55 percent of the number of runners.
These are far from disastrous figures given the numerous obstacles that had to be overcome. Some big races were cancelled; the vast majority of the European racing scene was completely closed for at least two months in the spring; and newly-instigated Covid regulations meant that crossing national borders suddenly became considerably more problematic or, sometimes, downright impossible.
Some countries were more accessible than others and, given its geographical proximity, it is surprising that Ireland was one of the worst hit. Having welcomed over 200 British runners in each of the preceding three seasons, this time the figure was just 69, and these visitors accumulated just £968,688, less than half the lowest annual Irish prize money tally achieved in the previous decade.
France was comfortably the most popular destination, with 394 cross-Channel sorties, and, though the £3.74 million earned there was the worst total since 2013, there was an explosion in the level of participation in French jump races (93 runners compared to just 20 in 2018) led by Sophie Leech, who contributed no less than 56 runners, the last two being Zurekin and Henryville, both successful at Cagnes-sur-Mer on December 23rd, winning £42,330 in the process.
Figures over £1 million are highlighted
With the Breeders’ Cup the only North American meeting to allow European involvement, it is quite remarkable that the two wins and seven places gained at that Keeneland jamboree meant that £1.458 million worth of American dollars were plundered, beating the transatlantic total achieved in five of the previous nine years.
John Gosden was the top overseas earner for the fourth consecutive year, pouching £1,559,989 to leave him close to £400,000 clear of the runner-up, William Haggas, whose total was mainly down to the two ground-breaking big-money successes achieved by Addeybb at the Sydney Autumn Carnival.
Yet the ongoing allure of international racing is perhaps best demonstrated by the determination of U.S. trainer Wesley Ward and his owners to continue to take part in Royal Ascot. Despite reduced prize money plus a ban on owners’ attendance, kiboshing the chance to share a cup of tea with the Queen, they were rewarded for their enterprise with a win and two second places from their seven runners.
James Crispe is associate director of editorial at the International Racing Bureau.