The five-day Glorious Goodwood festival will feature renewed rivalries this week, following an outstanding King George card at Ascot on Saturday that showcased Flat racing at its best. Scandinavia and Trawlerman will reprise their Ascot Gold Cup clash in Tuesday's Goodwood Cup, while the big three of Bow Echo, Gstaad and Opera Ballo are set for Wednesday's Sussex Stakes, and Diamond Necklace, the French Oaks winner, lines up for the Nassau Stakes on Thursday. The Stewards' Cup, one of the biggest betting races of the summer, will close the meeting on Saturday.
However, the sport's positive momentum has been tempered by news that Jockey Club Racecourses (JCR), the largest commercial operator in British racing, is to lose up to 30 staff following a restructuring overseen by chief executive Jim Mullen, who joined in June 2025. The redundancy process is currently voluntary, but 30 jobs represent nearly 5% of a 650-strong workforce, and some compulsory redundancies may be required.
Jim Allen's departure
The most notable departure so far is Jim Allen, general manager at Epsom since October 2024. Allen was the originator and public face of Epsom's five-year plan to revive the status and popularity of the Derby. He opted for voluntary redundancy rather than applying for a newly created role overseeing a "London Hub" of tracks that includes Epsom. Allen told the Racing Post on Sunday he is "sure [the five-year plan] will stay", though "it will be tweaked and improved as there's still a way to go and it was never going to happen in one year".
Allen grew up near the Epsom course and started his career as a work-rider on the downs. His career includes senior roles in racecourse management and a spell as a trainer in the United States. He may now return to a more hands-on role as a trainer or syndicate manager. "It's all very amicable," he told the Post, "and I'm hoping I'll be back at next year's Derby festival with some sort of runner."
Financial pressures and restructuring
Allen's drive, enthusiasm and focus will be a big loss to the Derby project, which aims to return to a 100,000 attendance for the two-day Classic meeting. The loss is not easily quantified, but Mullen, who oversaw a 25% headcount cut during his six-year tenure at Reach, has targeted cost savings to arrest a decline in JCR's profitability. JCR signed an exclusive £100m, 20-year deal with hospitality company Levy in March to improve the raceday experience. However, JCR's 2025 accounts show costs, including wages and increased national insurance obligations, rising faster than revenue.
A Jockey Club spokesperson said on Monday: "With that in mind, we have been working over the past six months on a plan to ensure we have an organisation able to maximise the potential of investing the £100m … realised earlier this year. Our aim is to give our racecourse teams more autonomy when it comes to commercial decision-making and ownership of the customer experience at their venues. It is also about us creating a more successful and sustainable business that can play a larger role in supporting, investing in and growing the sport while promoting racing and the thoroughbred."
Impact on racing
JCR remains the biggest commercial entity in the sport, but the job cuts contrast sharply with the mood at tracks like Ascot, Goodwood and York, where the Ebor meeting will take centre stage next month. The extent to which JCR's profits depend on major National Hunt festivals at Cheltenham and Aintree in March is unclear, as accounts do not single out individual track figures. Cheltenham has been left as a stand-alone entity in the restructuring, which likely indicates its importance.
It is an odd turn of racing history that the Jockey Club, firmly rooted in Newmarket and Flat racing, has become increasingly reliant on the success of Cheltenham and its festival. The five-year plan to revive the Derby was a way to bring Flat racing—which has a global audience—more back into the JCR mix. While capable people remain at the operation's HQ, losing Jim Allen's passion for the project feels like a setback it could well do without.
