Why always horse racing?

[Double J]

Just scrolling through Twitter, and shamefully, the government have excluded boxing from any government support in their sports rescue package.

Without reading it properly, I believe horse racing courses are to receive 40 or 80 million in funding to help get through this crisis, and rightfully so.

However, Eddie Hearn and a few others are raising questions about the funding. And the main point is:

How can horse racing receive funding and not this or that?

My point is, there is a load of other sports etc that have received greater funding, but it’s still somehow racing that gets the comparison. Why is this? I genuinely don’t get it.

[Perpetual]

It’s great that racing’s getting funding, but think it’s an easy target for a number of reasons – elite/rich man’s sport, the gambling connections and animal cruelty

I don’t think they’re valid but racing is a little insular. All of us on here clearly love it, but very few of my mates could give a flying feck about it, but have strong interests and opinions on all other mainstream sports such as football, rugby, boxing, snooker, golf etc…

I should add that I love boxing and agree with Eddie they should have got some cash, especially over Rugby!

[reet hard]

Isn't horse racing the 2nd largest spectator sport, and doesn't the 1st, more or less, look after their own?

[tiggers1972]

Isn't horse racing the 2nd largest spectator sport, and doesn't the 1st, more or less, look after their own?

Exactly

[jinnyj]

Too many woke people in mainstream media who won’t promote it. Hardly a mention on national news sports reporting. And for example the Daily Telegraph have a “sport to watch on TV” section in their TV guide. Very rare for racing to get a look in.
Betting is damaging to mental health
Its the sport of toffs
Its cruel to horses and they whip them to death.

[littlelad]

The Tories don't think there are many votes they can win in boxing clubs. The owner/trainers bar in Newmarket may be a more hospitable environment for them!!

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[Bachelors Hall]

How many people does the sport employ?

The first couple of items I found after a quick search says 85,000 in the UK and 28,000 in Ireland. I am not sure how this is broken down and I suspect it includes a fair amount of ad hoc auxiliary employees. Perhaps someone who possesses a statista account might have a better idea. Nevertheless, I imagine the obvious reason is that racing provides jobs and plenty of them. I would be surprised if any other sport employs quite as many people.