The numbers behind Royal Ascot
And so here we are, another year, another Ascot. For me, another declined invitation to attend. While that pains me, in another couple of years it won’t be a problem. But for the moment, I’d still rather be on this side of the desk during one of the busiest weeks of the year.
Wall to wall, quality racing, from now till Saturday, I’m in trading heaven! Let’s see how it all adds up.
Last year Royal Ascot had matched bet turnover at post time of £77.5m. That’s an average of just short of £2.6m a race. The biggest race turnedover £12.5m and the smallest £1.2m. Last years racing was distorded by two factors, namely Black Caviar and Frankel. Those two races accounted for £19m of that £77.5m!
If you look at prior years though, the numbers are still pretty high, 2011 was £71m, 2010 – £49.8m, 2009 – £60.5m. 2010 is a curious number, but I did check it and it was correct. Frankel and So You Think distorted volumes in 2011.
If we rebase all the numbers to strip out the effects of very short priced favourites you end up with a clearer picture of underlying liquidity. It was strong in 2009, weak in 2010, fantastic in 2011 and down a bit last year. That pretty much equates to how it has traded.
I’m open minded on how it will perform this year, it should be one of the biggest weeks of the year. But I’ll keep you updated on the blog as to how things are going. Of course the big question is, what colour hat will the queen be wearing, NOT!
Good luck Maam!
Category: Horse Racing
