20 May 2025

Levy Board awards £11m of new Grants in 2025

As part of its ongoing commitment to the horseracing industry, The Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) has confirmed £11 million in funding to support a variety of projects and initiatives across the sport through to the end of 2025.

HBLB is a statutory body that collects a levy from bookmakers on their British horseracing business, with the majority of funds reinvested directly into the sport. Operating under the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, HBLB supports a wide range of initiatives to improve horseracing, horse breeding, and veterinary science and education.

Grants

In addition to the previously announced £93 million for prize money and the sport’s regulation and integrity, the HBLB has committed over £1.8 million in non-fixture grant funding for three major initiatives.

This forms part of a wider £11 million in confirmed non-fixture support through to the end of 2025. This includes:

£8.1 million for projects such as education, industry training and community engagement
£2.76 million for veterinary science, research, and equine disease surveillance
£190,000 to support rare horse breed societies

Details of the veterinary and equine health grants will be shared in due course. Information about the rare breed support is available here.

In 2025, HBLB’s non-fixture funding will continue to focus on promoting racing, developing the industry workforce, and supporting the health and welfare of Thoroughbreds.

The £8.1 million in non-fixture grants, covering nine months to 31 December 2025, is a £2.4 million increase on the £5.7 million awarded for the 12 months from April 2024 to March 2025. This interim period supports a shift to a calendar-year funding cycle, with the 2026 application window opening in summer 2025.

Projects and Programmes Supported

HBLB’s largest grant award is £3.62 million to support the sport’s new National Marketing Campaign, led by Great British Racing and launching in May. This is the Board’s first funding for national marketing since 2022 and its largest single award of this type. One fifth of the grant will support HorsePWR, promoting British racing’s commitment to horse welfare. An additional £207,000 has been allocated to equine welfare communications, including support for National Racehorse Week.

A combined £2 million has been awarded to the British Racing School and National Horseracing College to support apprentice training, stable staff development, the Jockey Coaching Programme, and the Racing Staff Development Programme. Over £230,000 has been granted to the Scottish Racing Academy to continue its delivery of practical and theoretical training across Scotland and the North of England.

Grants have also been awarded for jockey support services, including £60,000 for nutrition clinics and £112,764 to ensure physiotherapy cover at all fixtures.

Racing to School and Racing Together have been awarded a combined £375,000 to support the Racing to School Education Programme and Racing Together’s core activity. The education programme engages diverse groups of young people through learning whilst offering an introduction to horseracing and Racing Together aims to set up, inspire and communicate community engagement work across the sport.

Racing to School recently featured as a case study highlighting the impact of HBLB funds which can be viewed in full below.

HBLB – Impact Report Download

Other Grants will support a wide range of organisations and initiatives, including:

The Pony Racing Authority’s Pathway into Racing Programme;
The BHA’s national careers marketing campaign and wider careers support
Education and training courses run by The National Stud and the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association
The Horseracing Industry People Board’s workforce strategy implementation
Retraining of Racehorses’ Education Programme and Vulnerable Horse Scheme
Support for Point-to-Pointing.

Grants are made with formal conditions and are subject to the monitoring and reporting requirements agreed between HBLB and each grant recipient.

Racing Together is fully funded by the HBLB, including for Racing Together Industry Day, Racing Together Community Week and much more.