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Equinties - what to do next
BGP Capital
February 21, 2026
Gm, Equinauts
It cannot be overstated how big Southwell was last night, and it wasn’t just because CONSTITUTION HILL won either.
Southwell showed how good racing events can be when done right and more importantly, when funded right.
It was a glimpse of what racing should be.
Let’s dive in.
THE TOTE
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HEADLINE ROUNDUP
SOUTHWELL SHOULD BE THE NORM
For years, British racing has looked in on the racing jurisdictions of Sydney, Melbourne and Meydan (to name but a few) from afar with pure envy whilst they scratch their heads and wonder how they can consistently put on such wildly successful racing parties.
Enter stage left: Southwell.
Thousands of racings fans, DJ tents, Nicky Henderson, Willie Mullins, Dan Skelton, Oisin Murphy, Ryan Moore, CONSTITUTION HILL, Amo, an electric atmosphere, socials popping, horses trending and fans calling it one of the best race days they’ve ever experienced away from a major festival;
little old Southwell just put on one of the greatest shows racing has seen in living memory.
And guess what? It’s totally replicable.
Okay, so CONSTITUTION HILL running was, and forever will be, almost a certain anomaly that cant be replicated because, in short, he shouldn’t have been there in the first place. But every thing around that? Replicable.
Firstly, entry charge was minimal. £19. Arguably could have been cheaper, but under £20 is not to be sniffed at whatsoever and allows normal racing fans to go see the horses without much thought of cost.
Talking of the horses, CONSTITUTION HILL wasn’t the only ‘good’ horse there. The 19.30 was stacked in behind him (hence his SP) and guess what? They weren’t all there just to say they once raced CONSTITUTION HILL, they were there for a piece of the £40k up for grabs. The other races were good too with the card dominated by 80 plus horses.
The bumper crowd of university students were there for a good night out and probably didn’t have a clue who Oisin Murphy or Nicky Henderson were (they absolutely will do now). Oh and don’t think the party tents and DJ’s were there for the horses either, they were there for the bloody good business.
The list goes on - it was a melting pot of perfect ingredients. For once, every thing was executed perfectly last night. A glimpse of what it should be like.
We imagine at this point you’re wondering where the hell we’re going with this article, fear not, we’re about to land on one big fat point which we truly (and strongly) believe to be the problem with British racing right now.
We’ll get there, but first lets look back to a subject we’ve discussed before, the breeding landscape. It has slowly and inevitably shifted in favour of cheap speed and precocity, as the demand the traditional, well bred middle distance horses has waned. Owners look for quick wins to net off some of the losses of ownership whilst international buyers rape and pillage our sales to buy the good weapons to win the riches on offer in Australia and Dubai. Simple supply and demand. Basic economics.
Racing simply doesn’t pay over here and guess what? It all boils down to our betting product.
The prize money on offer last night demanded the attention of everyone in racing. If we had a massive racing-centric pari-mutuel (pooled betting system) and hadn’t sold racings arse to the corporate giants, last night’s Southwell meeting would simply be another event. The norm.
France, Australia, Dubai and Japan are putting these shows on on the regular. They have a lot more money to spend on racing because they get three times the return from their betting product as we do here. Our ‘deal’ with betting is a sorry one.
THAT’S FACT. It cannot be argue. Fact.
We’ve drilled this point home many times before and always laugh at the short-sightedness of individuals posing as self proclaimed betting guru’s who cry margin and rake, though there are few of them. Stfu. It’s not an argument when we don’t even have the product! Plus, their concerns pale in significance when considering the bigger picture. It’s such a narrow minded argument when events like Southwell last night could literally be the norm. It’s just laughable.
The liquidity would have been massive had we had a pooled betting product last night. Punters could have really got stuck in. Instead we’re reduced to relying on greedy giants deciding whether they want to take your bet or not.
And that’s only if their servers could handle the traffic!
Pathetic.
Sidenote - we were actually a bit annoyed when Bet365 went down last night - yeh, they would have lost a lot of turnover but surely they’d have taken a monumental hit on the books with CONSITUTION HILL winning.
The only reason we’re celebrating Southwell as a huge success, other than the fact CONSTITUTION HILL won, is because it was a proper party that every one will want to turn to again. In fact, next time there might even be a waiting list.
WHAT TO DO WITH HIM NEXT?
Go for the Champion Hurdle or stick to the flat? Every one knew last night wouldn’t make the question any easier to answer.
But we have a take on it.
CONSTITUTION HILL reminded every one who the boss was last night, he confirmed his star status (as if he needed to anyway). You would never have thought Southwell would have made him an even bigger household name, yet here we are. People absolutely adore him.
How the hell could you risk him over obstacles again?
Fans don’t care where he runs, they just want to see him do what he does best - run fast! And he can do that without risk on the flat.
In our minds, that’s the question answered. It’s so, so simple. Stick to the flat and just let people enjoy him.
Plus, some of the flat races he could line up in this year will be whole lot more exciting than this years champion hurdle. So many doors have opened up to him now, think the Ebor, Melbourne Cup or even some distance races in Dubai!
Put him over hurdles and people will wince at every hurdle with their stomach in knots. Stick to the flat and punters will simply be roaring the machine home.
It is really as simple as that.
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