In these first days of the year 2025, on behalf of France Galop and on my own behalf, I would like to address the women and men involved in our sector – owners, trainers, jockeys, breeders, punters, volunteers, partners, enthusiasts as well to the France Galop teams – my most sincere wishes for happiness, health and success.
On this occasion, I would like to look back on a busy year for the new mandate chaired by Guillaume de Saint-Seine. The first achievements constitute a solid basis for approaching 2025.
The implementation, from March 2024, of loyalty initiatives and operations as part of the Owners’ Plan is already bearing fruit, with an increase in the number of 2-year-old horses in training. On the program side, the work of the teams in charge of the Calendar has made it possible to reduce off-peak races to 17.3% and increase those of races with 14 starters or more to 23.5%. This favorable “leavers effect” generated nearly €71 million in additional stakes. Several innovations as part of our customer approach have already been deployed, including a very popular WhatsApp for owners, bulletins to Claim online, the race meeting program to download, etc.
Collective work, bringing together administrators, professionals and employees of France Galop, was also deployed to develop a 2030 Strategic Plan, the first initiatives aimed at bringing “emotions to life at full speed”, our signature, were successfully tested: during of the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, thanks to its dramatization, the arrival of personalities and a remarkable evolution in the reception of spectators, or even during the celebration of the winners during the 48 Hours of the Obstacle. These successes reinforce our objective of placing racecourses in the landscape of leisure destinations, while the France Galop racecourses and their events already attract 400,000 spectators per year, and all French racecourses welcome nearly 2 million people every year.
We have real assets to achieve our objective of “putting racing back into the hearts of the French”: an incredible density and diversity of racecourses in France, prestigious sites, grand prix renowned beyond our borders, races regular training based on an intensive anti-doping fight to guarantee the integrity of our sport, renowned trainers and jockeys, as well as a sector of excellence for the breeding of racehorses.
This entire agricultural sector, established throughout France, is our strength. We demonstrated this last November by our extraordinary mobilization, uniting the forces of Trot and Galop, against the threat of taxation on horse racing betting. This fight is certainly not over, particularly in a context of the necessary revival of French interest in horse racing betting. The problems are common and the solutions
will also be. Our sector relies above all on a passionate and close-knit community.
In 2025, together we will continue to meet the challenges with ambition, determination and pragmatism. The stabilization of Galop allocations at €284.3 million for 2025, despite a constrained economic context, after the efforts already made on the owner bonus in 2024, demonstrates the desire of the new team to actively support the sector.
This new effort will be accompanied by a Transformation Plan included in our 2030 Strategic Plan. This plan will define a clear roadmap, structured around 5 priority objectives which will commit us for the coming years:
‒
The customer (general public, golf enthusiasts, punters) – Place the customer at the heart of the design of the racing product, make it more desirable and thus put racing back in the hearts of the French;
-‒
Our operational model – Change paradigm in order to reduce overheads, generate new production gains and increase the sector’s revenues;
‒
An HR transformation – To maximize the know-how of France Galop employees, move from simple cooperation, where everyone contributes individually, to a collaborative mode, generating value and synergy;
‒
Owner/Trainer Plan – Put into action a Coaching Plan allowing us to work better together with these professionals who are our ambassadors to retain and recruit French and foreign owners;
‒
IT Transformation – After the phase of studying our needs, deploy modern tools in the races, develop the websites and the applications used.
Very happy new year 2025 at Galop!
Read also
Related News :