NEW research has named Ffos Las amongst the top 10 UK racecourses with the biggest increases in searches over the past 3 years.

The racing experts at OLBG have revealed the UK racecourses with the biggest attendance over the past decade, those with the highest attendance per event, the racecourses increasing and decreasing in popularity the most, the racecourses with the highest number of annual searches and whether racegoers prefer flat or jump racing.

You can view the full research here - https://www.olbg.com/blogs/horse-racing-attendance-report

UK racecourses with the biggest increase in searches over the past 3 years:

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Musselburgh is the racecourse with the biggest increase in searches over the past 3 years, with a total of 3424.00%. The racecourse also features in the top 30 for overall attendance, with a total of 5,009 on average per month. 

Kempton Park racecourse follows in second with a total of 2330.77% increase over the past 3 years. The racecourse also features in the top 15 for more attendance across 10 years, with a total of 1,000,303.

Kelso racecourse completes the top three with a total of 2200.00% increase in searches over the past 3 years. Across the past 10 years, a total of 284,203 people have attended this racecourse, with 2015 being the year with the most attendance at 38,070. 

Further findings from the study have revealed:

  • Ascot Racecourse has the most Google searches by people searching for tickets with a total of 94,100. At just under 100,000, there are over 80,000 more searches for Ascot tickets than any other course. 
  • Between 2013 and 2024, the number of visitors attending race meetings at Warwick has increased by almost 50%, more than any other racecourse. 
  • The number of people attending flat racing over the past decade exceeds 31 million, while those attending jump racing is just over 19.3 million. When looking at the number of abandonments, around 9% more jump races were abandoned compared to flat races. 

Steve Madgwick, Editor-in-Chief at OLBG has commented on the Racing Attendance Report: “The racing industry has faced many battles in the past decade to get attendees through the gates in the UK, and like many other sports, the Covid-19 Pandemic provided even more difficult circumstances to contend with in 2020 and 2021.

“It’s even been mentioned in several press outlets recently that a potential smoking ban in the UK could be a further deterrent to turn people away from going to racing events, and with such questions in mind, how deep should we be looking into UK horse racing attendance trends?

“The team at OLBG are proud to be involved in the UK racing trade, and as part of our latest Racing Attendance Report, we wanted to compare and contrast attendance figures over the past 10 years per racecourse, seasonally, and per race type.

“Ascot ranks as the most visited racecourse over the past decade with just under 600,000 race visitors each year, and with Royal Ascot registering as one of the most esteemed events in the racing calendar, interest in this racecourse comes as no surprise; 94,100 Google searches were made relating to Ascot between September 2023 and August 2024.

“The numbers of attendees at major UK racecourses always see a major boost due to headline festival events, but it is paramount we highlight some of the courses that people are becoming more aware of and interested in visiting. Musselburgh is one of those, and over the past three years, search numbers for the racecourse have increased by more than 3,000%!”