New $15m horse racing super league to feature 12 leading jockeys including Frankie Dettori

Former CEO of Entain John Ferguson and former Godolphin chief executive Lachlan Fitt are planning a new $15million horse racing super league. 

The league will have a franchise-based structure and feature top jockeys including Frankie Dettori, Ryan Moore, William Buick, and Yutaka Take as franchise owners and league stakeholders. The group aims to enhance the existing race calendar, rather than compete with it, with a season consisting of ten fixtures, each with six races. 

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Ascot and York have made statements regarding their possible involvement, and it is believed that Leopardstown, the Curragh, Longchamp, and Chantilly are also being considered for likely venues. The group is believed to be in the process of attempting to find commercial partners and hopes to find $12m of prize money for the first two seasons. 

British horseracing has faced decline for nearly half a century. In particular, it is struggling to get fans into race courses. Attendance figures in 2022 and 2023 were roughly similar at just over 4.8m people for the year. Despite there being roughly the same number of meetings as during the pre-Covid years, there were 5.6m visitors in 2019, down from 6 million in 2015, showing that attendance was dropping even before the pandemic. 

There has also been a labour shortage, lower prize money for races, and less money in the sport. 

Experienced jockey Moore, who has been earmarked as one of the franchise heads, said: “The line-up of jockeys that has been assembled from across the world is incredibly strong and I’m excited about the prospect of being able to contribute to generating increased interest in the sport of horseracing globally.”

The other jockeys involved are Dettori, Buick, James McDonald, Joao Moreira, Zac Purton, Christophe Lemaire, Mickael Barzalona, Yutaka Take, Irad Ortiz Jr, Flavien Prat, and Vincent Ho. 

Chief executive of HRI racecourses, which includes Leopardstown, said: “The sport needs to be leveraging its superstars to bring in a new audience. Since Covid in Ireland, a younger audience has been coming to and consuming racing and something like this would play strongly to that group. It’s a very interesting idea.” 

Although HRI has not yet been approached, it is believed that the league founders want to include Leopardstown in its list of venues. They have already approached some major potential venues, including some of the biggest and most widely recognised racecourses. 

Director of racing and public affairs at Ascot, Nick Smith, said: “It’s an original concept as it’s jockey-led with jockey equity and so full jockey buy-in. Avoiding any conflict with the Pattern is essential and this has been well thought through. We are pleased to have been approached and look forward to continuing that dialogue.”

While the concept has yet to be fully formalised, Fitt, at least, is already looking towards future growth and expansion of the league, stating: “As we establish and then grow the league we look forward to having the best female jockeys in the world being involved. We are evaluating a number of growth opportunities following the initial launch season that would both expand the reach of the league and see more global icons put in the spotlight.”