UK: The official yearbook of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland > 2003

Social and cultural affairs
18 Sport and recreation
The National Hockey Stadium in Milton Keynes is
the main venue for all major hockey matches
played in England.
Horse racing
Horse racing takes two main forms - flat racing
and National Hunt (steeplechasing and hurdle)
racing - and there are meetings throughout the
year. There are 59 racecourses in Great Britain and
about 13,000 horses in training. Point-to-point
racing, restricted to amateur riders on horses
which are qualified by having gone hunting, takes
place between January and June.
The Derby, run at Epsom, is the principal event in
the flat racing calendar. Other classic races are the
2,000 Guineas and the 1,000 Guineas, both held at
Newmarket; the Oaks (Epsom); and the St Leger
(Doncaster). The meeting at Royal Ascot in June is
another significant flat racing event. The most
important National Hunt meeting is the National
Hunt Festival held at Cheltenham in March, which
features the Gold Cup and the Champion Hurdle.
The Grand National, run at Aintree, near Liverpool,
since the 1830s, is the world’s most famous
steeplechase. The race is televised around the world,
with an estimated total audience of approximately
500 million in 150 countries in 2002.
The British Horseracing Board (BHB)
(www.bhb.co.uk) is the governing body for racing
and is responsible for strategic and financial
planning, the fixture list, race programmes,
relations with the Government and the betting
industry, and central marketing. The Jockey Club
is the regulatory authority and is responsible for
licensing, disciplinary matters and security.
In April 2002 Tony McCoy broke the record for the
number of winners in a season when he rode his
270th winner in a hurdle race at Warwick - his
eventual total for the 2001/02 National Hunt
season was 289. This broke the previous record,
achieved in 1947 by Sir Gordon Richards, still the
most successful UK jockey ever with 4,870 career
wins. In August 2002 Tony McCoy became the most
successful National Hunt jockey ever when he rode
his 1,700th winner, breaking the record previously
held by Richard Dunwoody.
Ice hockey
Ice hockey is a popular indoor sport, with over
2 million spectators each season. There are two
professional leagues, with seven teams in the Ice
Hockey Superleague and a further 12 teams in the
Findus British National Ice Hockey League. The
English Premier League is a development league,
with ten teams in its Premier Division while there
are also two lower divisions (North and South).
There are around 11,500 players in the UK. The
sport is particularly popular in Northern Ireland.
Ice-skating
Ice-skating has four main disciplines: ice figure
(single and pairs), ice dance, speed skating and
synchronised skating. Competitive participation in
ice-skating is concentrated among the under-25s,
and it is one of the few sports that attracts more
female than male participants. Recreational
skating is enjoyed by people in a wide range of
ages, and by a growing number of skaters with
various levels of disability. The governing body is
the National Ice Skating Association of UK Ltd.
The Association has 75 affiliated clubs and over
4,500 individual members. There are over 70 rinks
in the United Kingdom, including a new National
Ice Centre in Nottingham. The Centre has two
rinks and caters for many ice sports, including free
skating, ice dance, synchronised skating, ice
hockey and short track speed skating.
Martial arts
Various martial arts, mainly derived from the Far
East, are practised in the UK, such as judo, karate,
kendo, taekwondo and tang soo do. Judo is
popular not only as a competitive sport and self-
defence technique, but also as a means of general
fitness training. There is an internationally
recognised grading system, which is in operation
through the sport’s governing body, the British
Judo Association (www.britishjudo.org.uk).
Motor-car sports
Four-wheeled motor sport includes motor racing,
autocross, rallycross, rallying and karting. In
motor racing the Formula 1 Grand Prix World
Championship is the pinnacle of the sport. The
British Grand Prix takes place at Silverstone
(Northamptonshire) in July.
The governing body for four-wheeled motor sport
in the UK is The Royal Automobile Club Motor
Sports Association, which issues licences for
competitors and events. It also organises the
British Grand Prix and the Rally of Great Britain,
an event in the World Rally Championship.
The UK has had more Formula 1 world
champions than any other country, the most
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