Last week's budget has had its first major impact on British racing with the news that Betfred is set to end its sponsorship of the five British classics.
Betfred chairman and co-founder Fred Done had warned that it would have to walk away from a verbal agreement to continue its sponsorship deals with the Jockey Club and Arena Racing Company if chancellor of the exchequer John Healey raised machine games duty in the budget.
Healey did raise the level of the duty to 25% from 20%, something which Betfred's modeling claimed would mean 284 of its remaining 1,094 shops would become lossmakers, putting 1,420 jobs at risk.
A Betfred spokesperson said: "Following successive tax rises for the betting industry—and in particular the increase to machine games duty at the most recent budget—it is with great sadness that we have taken the difficult decision not to proceed with a three-year renewal of our sponsorship of the British classics.
"It is not a decision we wanted to make, but the cumulative cost of government policy has left us with no choice."
The Jockey Club said it was disappointed by the news but revealed it was already having talks with potential new sponsors.
Amy Starkey, who runs Epsom as managing director of the Jockey Club's London hub, said: "While we are naturally disappointed that Betfred have taken the decision not to renew their sponsorship of the Derby and the Guineas festival at Newmarket, we understand their reasons for doing so and know this was not an easy decision for them.
"Fred and his team are hugely passionate supporters of racing and have been great partners for our four British classics, and we look forward to hopefully working with them again at some point in the future.
"We are currently in conversations with a number of interested prospective partners that share our ambitions for the future of both events, and look forward to sharing more details in due course."
Betfred first became sponsors of the Derby (G1) and Oaks (G1) at Epsom Downs Racecourse in 2023, with the St. Leger Stakes (G1) at Doncaster Racecourse being added to its portfolio later that year.
The following summer it was announced that Betfred would become the first brand to back all five of Britain's classics with a deal to become the new sponsor of Newmarket Racecourse's Two Thousand Guineas Stakes (G1) and One Thousand Guineas Stakes (G1) from 2025 onwards. Betfred also offered a £2 million bonus for any horse who won the Triple Crown.
Director of commercial strategy and partnerships David Leyden Dunbar, said: "We have no doubt that Fred and the entire team at Betfred share our disappointment at not being able to continue their association with the St Leger festival and Doncaster.
"In the face of such regulatory headwinds, it's no surprise that partnerships like ours, no matter how positive, would inevitably become collateral damage.
"Betfred leaves the world's oldest classic in rude health and all the better for their involvement, with this year's renewal producing its highest attendance since 2012. For this, everyone connected with the racecourse would like to put their sincere thanks on record.
"We remain confident that this won't be the end of Betfred's relationship with British racing and we look forward to the opportunity for us to work together again."
Analysis carried out by the Racing Post last month revealed that bookmaker sponsorship of British racing had dropped by 17% since the imposition of higher taxes in last year's budget following lobbying by campaigners.
