Plans for a team-based horse racing series with £5M ($6.5M) in prize money will "take a step forward this week with every trainer in Britain set to receive details of the proposed event," which is due to start next July, according to Mark Souster of the LONDON TIMES. Championship Horse Racing said that it "wants to add a new dimension to the sport and act as a platform where fans and brands can interact." It pitches itself as a "cross between" Twenty20 cricket and Formula 1. The format will include 12 teams, with 30 horses and four jockeys in each, taking part in an eight-fixture series held on consecutive Thursdays at eight grade-one racecourses across Britain. The British Horseracing Authority "has sanctioned the fixtures, in principle." The six races at each meeting will all be £100,000 ($129,800) handicaps and teams will vie for points over the series to provide an overall winner. Each team will have one runner per race. Points will be awarded for "the first ten horses home," so "every race will have meaning." Whips will be banned for the series. ITV is understood to be "ready to broadcast the series," while media partners and brands, "many with no present connection to racing," are "being courted" (LONDON TIMES, 10/2).
