French racing’s senior executives are clearly hard at work before October’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and briefed reporters at Longchamp for Sunday’s Grand Prix de Paris on their plans to avoid a repeat of the PR disaster when the track hosted its first Arc since 2015 last autumn. But while they were doing their best to woo the British and Irish fans who were bitterly disappointed by their experience in 2018, they also revealed what seems to be – to me, at least – an astonishing fact about the showpiece event of European racing. Arc weekend, which includes the only day of the entire season when Longchamp is full to the rafters, runs at a loss.
You read that correctly. A loss. If Edward Gillespie, the man who turned the Cheltenham Festival into one of sport’s biggest events, happens to be reading this piece, his eyebrows have just hit the ceiling.
“It’s the biggest event that we organise,” Olivier Delloye, the chief executive of France Galop, said, “and it should be profitable and should generate the margins that we struggle to have on normal days when the attendance is too low. But because of the huge cost of all the temporary facilities that we have to implement, and traditionally the pricing was always a little bit too low, we are trying to break even on this event but it’s not so easy.”
Delloye did not reveal the size of the loss, but did confirm that Arc weekend was in the red in 2018, despite an eye-watering hike in the price of admission to €75 (£68), from €20 (£17) for the last Arc at the old Longchamp and €30 (£26) when it sojourned in Chantilly in 2016 and 2017.
A price cut to €65 (£57) for the main enclosure and €20 (£18) in the “Jardin de l’Arc” enclosure is part of the package to persuade last year’s disillusioned racegoers to give the new Longchamp a second chance. It is a welcome gesture, but only a gesture all the same, as €10 is unlikely to make much difference to anyone when they are weighing up the cost of travel, accommodation and enjoying one of the world’s most beautiful cities as it deserves to be enjoyed. It also leaves Delloye in an even deeper hole as he tries to get the weekend somewhere close to break-even point, never mind into the black.
Does it matter that the Arc is a loss-maker? In some ways, no. Thanks to the PMU monopoly on betting in France, the gross profit margin on betting turnover is between 15% and 25% depending on the pool (and the high-margin pools such as the Tierce are the most popular). That guarantees prize funds at a level that has long been the envy of owners, trainers and jockeys in the UK and Ireland, even when attendances are thin to non-existent.
But the mere fact that the grandest occasion in European racing has been allowed to run at a loss for so many years also hints at the complacency that can result when money simply falls into your lap. British racing’s funding model has its flaws, as everyone knows, but it does at least enjoy a variety of income streams, one of which is the money generated by shifting nearly 6m tickets every year and the revenue from food, drinks, hospitality, betting and so on that goes with it.
French racing has lots of money from its PMU monopoly but none of the emotional capital that comes from the shared experience of a big day at the races. As a result, it is highly vulnerable to any decline in betting turnover, either because punters lose interest in racing or through competition from other forms of gambling.
France is one of the great European racing nations and the home of the continent’s most glamorous Flat race, so we should all wish it well. But if Arc weekend has been running at a loss for all these years, it suggests that French racing’s problems date back a good deal further, and run a lot deeper.
Tuesday’s best bets
Firm – or firmish – ground means field sizes are a little thin at Bath and Beverley and there has been a steady stream of non-runners at both tracks in the morning already. The loss of two opponents from the 10 originally declared for the seven-furlong handicap at the Yorkshire track could be good news for Ollivander (3.45), though, as he attempts to add to his course-and-distance win last month.
David O’Meara’s gelding likes to race up with the pace and is drawn in the outside stall, which will make life difficult for Danny Tudhope as the field head towards Beverley’s sharp right-handed turns. The absence of Make On Madam in particular, though, will ease his task as he attempts to get into position and in every other respect, Ollivander looks like a solid bet at around 100-30.
Three fancied runners have come out of the stayers’ handicap earlier on the card leaving Rochester House (2.45) as the obvious winner but at a very thin price. Golden Guest (3.15) and How Bizarre (4.15) should both start at more backable prices, however, while Tinto (4.00) and Arctic Nel (7.40) make most appeal on the cards at Bath and Nottingham, respectively.
Beverley: 1.45 Singe Anglais, 2.15 Hello Girl, 2.45 Rochester House (nap), 3.15 Golden Guest, 3.45 Ollivander (nb), 4.15 How Bizarre, 4.45 Langholm, 5.15 Thorntoun Care.
Bath: 2.00 Beignet, 2.30 Requiems Dream, 3.00 Singing The Blues, 3.30 Top Boy, 4.00 Tinto, 4.30 Heritage, 5.00 Imperial Act
Nottingham: 5.40 Apache Blaze, 6.10 She Looks Like Fun, 6.40 Move In Time, 7.10 Champagne Marengo, 7.40 Arctic Nel, 8.10 Arletta Star, 8.40 Clem A.
Southwell: 6.00 Atomic Rumble, 6.30 Civil Unrest, 7.00 Panko, 7.30 Solo Saxophone, 8.00 Montys Angel, 8.30 Theatre Act, 9.00 No Quarter Asked.