Not much more than a month ago it looked as if the stand-off between the Jockey Club of the Czech Republic (JCCR) and the racecourses could last for some time, and a lengthy delay to the beginning of our racing season was not impssible. However, the JCCR yielded in time for racing to begin in the middle of April, less than two weeks after the planned opening of the season. The JCCR will have plenty of opportunities not only to punish the racecourses that defied it, but also to insist that the racecourses stop charging owners so much to enter their horses for races and to declare them to run.

The racecourses are aware that owners do not want to pay 5% of the total prize money for the race to  enter and declare one horse to run. Czech owners may not choose to pay €1 500 to run their horse in a €30 000 race at Prague Velká Chuchle when it costs €300 to run for the same prize money at Berlin Hoppegarten – and of course it is almost impossible to get foreign owners to bring their horses over here.  [Note, by the way, that entry+declaration for the Velka Pardubicka is not much more than 1% of the total prize money of 5 million crowns, about €180 000. That is, if the entry is made by May 12th.] It would be foolish for the racecourses to think they have won the War of the Percentages, and can just go on insisting on 5% .

Petr Malík wrote an article on the Galopp Reporter website about the charge levied for entering and  declaring racehorses in the Czech Republic over the last 25 years, and compared these costs with the current cost in other countries in Europe.

In the 1990s, which were very difficult transition years for Czech racing, the racecourses charged 3.5% in 1993 and in 1998, and in the other years, 3% or less. In August 2002, there was catastrophic flooding at Prague Velká Chuchle racecourse, and the charges were raised to 5% until the end of that season. From 2003 until 2006, the charge was again 3.5% or 3%, and less than that for the classic races. In 2007, as the economic/banking crisis loomed, the charges were raised to 5% “as an emergency measure”. From 2011 until 2013, the charges for some races were lowered to 4% or 4.5%, but since 2014, the courses have been charging 5% for most races.   

According to Petr Malík’s article, the charge for entry plus declaration in other countries is: Italy - 0%; Slovakia - 4%; Hungary - 1%; Poland - about 2%; Switzerland - 2% (1% if the race is covered by PMU); Germany - 1%, (2% for group races); Ireland - about 1%; UK - about 1%; France -             0.5%.

It is clear, even to the most recalcitrant racecourse manager, that 5% of the total prize money is a very high charge for running a horse for a race. However, they argue that they must cover their costs if they are to remain in business.

In other countries, advertising, sponsors and corporate hospitality bring in good money for the racecourses, or racegoers make a considerable contribution at the gate. Here, advertising and sponsoring is done mainly by companies belonging to owners of racehorses, and it is hard to convince other companies that it is to their advantage to advertise themselves through horse racing. Most racegoers earn less than €1 000 per month, and considerably less than that if they earn their living in horseracing. Most racegoers cannot afford to pay the kind of amount for admission that is considered normal in, for example, the UK or Ireland.

There are countries where the ministry of agriculture and the local authorities make a very useful financial contribution to horse breeding and horse racing. Here, the public authorities invest only a modest amount in supporting horse breeding and local race meetings.

Last but not least, in countries where racing is in good financial health there are large revenues from betting. Here, the situation with betting is worse than ever. Betino, the monopoly bookmaker achieves very low turnover. The bookmaker’s margin is very high, as are his overheads, so betting makes even less sense than it does in other countries. The state levies a very high tax on Betino’s profits, so that the company is able to make only a small contribution to horse racing.

The performance of Betino is frustrating for everyone, including the company that runs it. About seven years ago, the JCCR decided that it did not want to manage Betino, that there was a conflict of interest if they did, and they sold the company in a kind of management buy-out, i.e. to some of its own members. However, it has been unprofitable for the Betino owners, who would now like to sell the company back to the JCCR for at least what they paid for it. The JCCR would probably like to regain control, but cannot agree a price.

The “putschists” who took over the JCCR two years ago consider that Czech racing, and also Betino, were inefficiently run in the past, and the failure to find adequate revenue streams - except by milking the owners - was and still is at least partly due to bad management. Is it really so difficult for the organizers of racing to raise money here, or are the racecourses simply underperforming and in need of better management? If they cannot raise money, should they not step aside and make way for some new people who will try something different. My view is that all the racecourses seem to share the same problem – not enough revenue. However, I think some of them have done well to survive through difficult decades, while others have missed an opportunity to progress.

When the racing season finally got started, we had two chilly wet weekends, and the first meeting this year that I really enjoyed was the first of May meeting at Lysa-nad-Labem. The First of May Steeplechase was won for the tenth time by Josef Váňa, as a trainer, and for the third year in succession, when Ange Guardian, ridden by 2015 champion jumps jockey Jan Kratochvíl won from Sztorm, winner of last year’s Wielka Wroclawska, with Reaper, son of the peerless Registana, in third place.

Next weekend, the feature race at Velká Chuchle on Sunday will be the Czech One Thousand Guineas, and a week later the main event will be the Czech Two Thousand Guineas. Our classic races are run far too early in the season, especially when we consider that there are no really major races here over 1 600 metres for milers to run in later in their careers.

Our 2016 season is now up and running, and I hope the conflict between the JCCR and the racecourses can be solved, or at least be patched up, by magnanimity, and not allowed to drag on bitterly, and spoil the whole season. Life is too short for that.