With increasing anti-racing government legislation, now more than ever, it is essential to examine what can be done to make horse racing a more resilient sport in the face of external pressures. Horse Racing has been the second-highest attended sport in the UK for the last two years and has been in the top three for the previous four years.
While there has been a decline in attendance at the major festivals at Cheltenham and Aintree, the racing industry is seeing an ageing supporter base overall. Events that Invades run, aimed at students, have been a massive success; however, the issue here is keeping students coming outside of Invades.
I am writing this as a young person in racing, with people around me holding negative stereotypes of the sport. Arguments will be posed to partially address these issues, as well as to present my ideas through other sports initiatives.
I believe the future of horse racing lies in the ability to mobilise the younger horse racing fans, below I will outline problems and potential solutions.
Barriers to Entry
A major barrier to entry is the rising ticket prices, which make the sport less accessible to young people. Ticket prices in horse racing vary widely, with standard days at smaller tracks typically costing £12–£20, weekend or big meetings like Saturdays at Cheltenham or Newbury ranging from £25–£40, and premier events such as the Derby, Grand National, or Royal Ascot priced at £40–£70 for basic enclosures, with premium or hospitality areas like the Queen Anne Enclosure often exceeding £100.
Little can be done to change ticket prices in isolation — rising costs across the board mean racecourses, like any other entertainment venue, face higher expenses for staffing, safety, facilities, and upkeep. As a result, prices for big meetings are creeping upward, and even a standard Saturday fixture can feel like a luxury spend for students or young professionals already facing financial pressure.
But here’s the catch: many young people don’t realise that horse racing is more affordable than it looks, if you know where to look.
Several racecourses offer season tickets that provide access to dozens of fixtures for the cost of two or three standard tickets. Concession rates for under-25s or students are available at many tracks, often bringing the price down to £10 or less. Some courses also host special promotional days or “student race days,” featuring music, giveaways, and social events alongside the racing.
So why don’t more people take advantage of this?
Because the problem isn’t just price, it’s communication. These deals are rarely visible on social media feeds, seldom pushed in fresh or engaging ways, and are often buried in the small print of outdated websites. Racing struggles to speak the language of younger fans, failing to package these offerings in the way sports like football, F1, or even cricket now do.
Instead of showcasing racing as a fun, accessible day out with real sporting drama, it’s still too often presented through an old-fashioned lens. Until the sport starts marketing itself with the energy and clarity that appeals to under-30s, these entry-level barriers will remain needlessly high.
The affordability is there. The access is there. But the awareness? That’s still sorely lacking.
I searched for tickets to a three-day festival in York. For someone my age (under 25), it was cheaper to get a season ticket than to pay for the three days. However, I wouldn’t have known about this if I hadn’t searched it up as one of my silly 2 a.m. thoughts. Most racecourses have season tickets; however, the problem remains the same. Instead of just individual racecourses, there are season tickets for regions such as the Go Racing Season Ticket for Yorkshire, which offers a ticket to 183 fixtures.
This leads onto the second point, the marketing of racing.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Marketing of Racing
One of the biggest failings in racing’s efforts to attract young people lies in its ineffective marketing strategy. Much of what the public sees, especially on TV and radio, comes not from the sport itself, but from betting companies. While betting is undeniably a core part of horse racing, and that’s not inherently a bad thing, the way it’s currently marketed does little to help the sport grow at a grassroots level and appeal to young people (for the intended reason of this article). Most racing advertisements promote online betting apps and offers tailored for at-home punters, encouraging people to engage with racing passively from their sofas rather than motivating them to experience it live at the racecourse. This focus misses the opportunity to promote the unique atmosphere of being on course, backing a horse with a local bookmaker, and supporting local tracks.
There’s a real question as to why organisations like Great British Racing, Arena Racing Company and The Jockey Club aren’t producing their eye-catching adverts that sell the thrill, history, and atmosphere of the sport, rather than allowing the narrative to be dominated by betting firms.
Examining the racecourses themselves, while TV marketing is costly, social media channels remain underutilised with untapped potential.
TikTok has proven essential in reaching younger audiences, with Racing TV’s short-form content and Frankie Foster’s behind-the-scenes videos providing engaging, relatable material that showcases the sport’s excitement. Similarly, Bashy from Basherwatts Racing has done a brilliant job of making horse racing feel more accessible and entertaining for a new generation of fans. However, these successes remain isolated.
Overall, horse racing still lacks a cohesive and creative social media presence. There’s a glaring absence of humorous reels, drama-filled mini-docs, and shareable content that builds personalities and tells compelling stories. In today’s digital age, where attention is currency, horse racing struggles to hold a place in the conversation, leaving a massive opportunity unfulfilled.
Embed from Getty ImagesWhat racecourses should be doing is using social media, such as TikTok, to produce content that follows trends and showcases events on race days. This is vital for more miniature courses around the UK that don’t hold the household name status of Aintree, Cheltenham, Ascot, and York. This can also apply to jockeys, with notable successes, such as Alan Johns, who has successfully produced engaging content, further opening up horse racing to a younger audience.
The issue with social media and horse racing is the inconsistent rhythm of the sport — fixtures aren’t always regular, and outside of major meetings like Cheltenham, Royal Ascot, or the Grand National, racing can feel fragmented and complex to follow. Unlike football or Formula 1, where fans know precisely when the next game or race is and can build routines around them, horse racing is a complex and sprawling calendar with action happening every day — but not always in a way that feels cohesive or engaging to a casual follower. For younger fans, especially those who are newly interested, it’s challenging to stay connected when there’s no central narrative or easy entry point to follow week by week.
One solution lies in localising the sport through social media, particularly for more miniature courses that don’t have the budget or profile of the big festivals. Racecourses could build an online presence that focuses not just on promoting fixtures, but on creating personality around their venue. This might include behind-the-scenes content with stable staff, interviews with local jockeys or trainers, TikTok walkarounds of the course, or even humorous, community-driven content that showcases the uniqueness of each track. A racecourse doesn’t need a big-name horse to become relevant it needs to feel familiar and welcoming. Consistent, casual content, even during off-weeks, helps build a digital relationship with young fans, making them more likely to return, engage, and eventually show up in person. If each racecourse treated its social media not as a marketing platform, but as a living, breathing part of the sport’s ecosystem, it could become a vital part of keeping new audiences interested between race days.
The Experience
The raceday experience is one of horse racing’s greatest untapped assets when it comes to attracting younger fans. For many under-30s, their first exposure to the sport isn’t through form guides or odds, it’s through a day out with mates, often tied to a social occasion, and increasingly, live music events. Big-name concerts, such as Olly Murs at York, Craig David at Newbury, or Pete Tong at Sandown, have proven wildly successful in drawing in younger crowds who may not normally attend a race meeting. These hybrid events combine the excitement of live sport with the atmosphere of a summer festival, creating a memorable introduction to racing that goes beyond betting. However, despite the success of major tracks, the smaller racecourses are being left behind. Without support from racing’s governing bodies, many can’t afford to put on even one marquee event a year — despite the potential return in attendance and long-term fan engagement. If the sport is serious about its future, investment must be made to ensure that every course, not just the flagship ones, has the tools to create a raceday experience that can hook the next generation.
There are lessons to be learned from other sports as well. In the 1990s, rugby league in northern England faced a similar crisis, with declining crowds and dwindling interest. One of the most successful responses came from clubs like the Keighley Cougars, who embraced a bold new approach known as “Cougarmania”, combining music, colour, entertainment, and a carnival atmosphere to re-engage local communities. The razzmatazz worked: fans returned, and the club became a symbol of how sport can thrive by embracing spectacle and identity. Maybe it’s time for horse racing to rediscover a similar spirit, a retro razzmatazz feel that blends live action with a sense of nostalgia and cultural identity. By celebrating its history while modernising its presentation, racing could recapture the magic that once made it a cornerstone of British life, not just a sport, but a shared experience.
However, the truth is that current racedays can feel flat and have a significantly negative impact on crowd return rates. Sparse crowds, weak cards, and a lack of atmosphere can make a day at the races feel more like a forgotten duty than a thrilling event. It raises a difficult but necessary question: Are there too many fixtures? Spreading the sport thinly across low-quality meetings not only dilutes its appeal but also makes it harder to market effectively. These race days, often midweek, poorly attended, and with uncompetitive fields, don’t reflect the prestige and passion that racing should represent. Cutting down on quantity in favour of quality could allow the sport to focus its resources on delivering better racing, better experiences, and ultimately, a better chance of inspiring the next generation of fans.
Conclusion
If horse racing is serious about securing its future, it must acknowledge that attracting young fans requires a mix of nostalgia and tradition with action, innovation, and investment. The sport has a great deal to offer: thrilling live action, an intense social atmosphere, affordability in select locations, and a rich cultural identity. However, at present, these strengths are obscured by poor communication, uninspiring marketing, and an overcrowded, inconsistent fixture list. For younger generations used to engaging with sport through personality-driven content, sharp branding, and immersive experiences, horse racing can feel distant, confusing, or out of touch.
Fixing this doesn’t mean reinventing the wheel; it means using the tools already available more effectively. Social media must be embraced fully, not reluctantly. Pricing offers need to be marketed clearly and creatively. Smaller racecourses should be given the support to host at least one showpiece event per year that can help build local identity and loyalty. And critically, the quality of race days, from the entertainment to the on-course product, must be raised across the board, even if that means trimming the fixture list to focus on impact over volume.
The barriers to entry are real, but they are not immovable. Horse racing has the raw materials to become relevant and exciting to a new generation. What it needs now is the ambition and leadership to bring that vision to life.