Two leading industry professionals have pointed to improved field sizes in January, spurred by 22 dropouts due to frost, as evidence that the racing fixtures list needs a cull – with coaches and bookmakers agreeing less can mean more.
The small fields plagued British racing for 18 months, but they started 2023 as they ended 2022, on the rise, with January producing the third highest total for that month since 2011.
An average field size of 8.93 was up from the same time last year, when there was just one dropout and fields averaged 8.52. As if to underscore the point, only one all-time game was lost and field sizes this year increased slightly to 8.64 from 8.58. However, over the jumps, where 21 encounters were lost, the average field size jumped from 8.47 to 9.29.
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