TOTE CHAIRMAN’S THOUGHTS - FOUR REASONS TO GET EXCITED ABOUT THE FOURTH YEAR OF WORLD POOL

Wednesday 27th April 2022

The arrival of the flat racing season in Great Britain is just another reminder of how fast time seems to fly each year.

Incredibly, it is already the 4th year of World Pool and there is a lot to look forward to this year.

World Pool was created by the Hong Kong Jockey Club and first took place at Royal Ascot in 2019. As a collaboration of global Totes, World Pool enables racing fans from all over the globe to bet into a single pool, the result being enormous liquidity and a multi-million pound betting experience.

This creates better value for customers and generates critical betting revenue and increased media rights for the sport.

So let me give you four reasons to be excited about World Pool in 2022:

1. World Pool will offer the biggest pools ever with the best value for racing fans

In 2021, £363 million was bet into the pool across the 17 World Pool events that took place in Britain and Ireland. We expect this to grow in 2022 as awareness of World Pool increases, including the value on offer to racing fans. For example, last year if you’d placed a £1 bet on each winner on the 17 World Pool days, you’d have a 15% higher return compared with the industry Starting Price (SP).

2. New bet types will be available in World Pool for racing fans

There are seven bet types in World Pool for 2022, including the Exacta and Treble for the first time, and all benefit from huge global liquidity:

• Win (Single Leg bet) - Pick the winner of the race

• Place (Single Leg bet) - Pick a horse to be placed. Hong Kong place terms apply

• Exacta (Single Leg bet) - Pick the first two horses in the correct order 

• Trifecta (Single Leg bet) - Also known as the Tierce. Select the winner, the second, and the third horse in the correct order

• Quinella (Single Leg bet) - Select the first two finishers in either order

• Swinger (Single Leg bet) - Also known as the Quinella Place. Pick two horses to finish 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in any order

• Treble (Multi Leg bet) - Pick the first horse in three races 

3. World Pool racedays will offer record prize money for participants

World Pool racedays will have record prize money available of £28.4 million and include Cazoo Oaks Day at Epsom Downs for the first time which will be part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend.

The full list of World Pool days is:

• QIPCO 2000 Guineas Day – Newmarket Rowley Mile Racecourse, Saturday 30th April

• Cazoo Oaks Day – Epsom Downs Racecourse, Friday 3rd June

• Cazoo Derby Day – Epsom Downs Racecourse, Saturday 4th June

• Royal Ascot – Ascot Racecourse, Tuesday 14th to Saturday 18th June

• QIPCO King George Diamond Day – Ascot Racecourse, Saturday 23rd July

• Qatar Goodwood Festival - Goodwood Racecourse, Tuesday 26th to Thursday 28th July

• Ebor Festival – York Racecourse, Wednesday 17th to Friday 19th August

• Longines Irish Champions Day – Leopardstown, Saturday 10th September

• QIPCO British Champions Day – Ascot Racecourse, Saturday 15th October

4. World Pool to offer £50,000 in prizes for racing staff

For the first time, a World Pool “Moment of the Day” will be awarded by an industry representative at the 16 World Pool days in the lead up to British Champions Day, with the moment decided by a standout performance.

Racing staff who look after the winning horse for each World Pool “Moment of the Day” will receive £1,000 and a bottle of champagne. At the end of the World Pool season, the 16 winners of “Moment of the Day” at World Pool events will compete for the overall World Pool “Moment of the Year”, which will be presented on British Champions Day. The overall winner will be determined by a combination of scores derived from a public vote and an industry panel.  The winning yard who looks after the horse will be awarded the World Pool “Moment of the Year” and receive a massive £34,000!

We’re glad World Pool will be rewarding those people involved in the vital work of caring for our amazing racehorses.

Everyone at the Tote is really looking forward to this season’s World Pool days and we know this excitement is shared across the sport. We look forward to working with all our partners to ensure this is the best season of World Pool yet!

For more information about the UK Tote Group please visit www.uktotegroup.com and follow us @UKToteGroup and @ToteRacing.