Horse racing is a very popular spectator sport in the UK, with the fast paced sport being exciting for viewers both live and at home watching on TV. But exactly how popular is it in the UK in 2021 and which races are Britain’s favourites? This article explores these questions and more.
Horse Racing Statistics: The Short Version
We have rounded up our key findings from our research here. More in depth analysis and research can be found further on in the article.
- Horse racing is the 4th most popular sport in the UK with 212,000 monthly searches.
- There are a total of 191.4 million views on the hashtag #horseracing on TikTok.
- The Grand National is the most popular horse race in the UK with 1 million searches for the race in the UK in April 2021 alone.
- “Horse Riding” is the most popular in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne based on the number of monthly searches.
How Popular is Horse Racing in the UK in 2021?
We conducted a keyword analysis using the tool KWFinder to discover the popularity of Horse Racing in the UK in 2021. Based on search volumes, Horse Racing is the fourth most popular sport in the UK, generating an average of 212,000 searches per month in the UK alone. 6 million people attend the races each year with 40% of the people attending being women. This makes Horse Racing the second most popular spectator sport in the UK when analysing people watching the event in person.
Most popular sports in the UK based on search volumes. Search volumes obtained from the keyword analysis tool KWFinder.
How Popular is Horse Racing on Social Media?
Horse Racing has a large social media presence, with a large amount of views on both TikTok and Instagram with the key statistics listed below.
- There are 1.7 million posts on Instagram with the hashtag #horseracing.
- On TikTok, there are a total of 191.4 million total views for the hashtag #horseracing.
- The most viewed TikTok with the hashtag #horseracing has 500,000 views.
While these figures appear high, when compared to the likes of the social media presence for Cricket and Football, it is much lower. Therefore, this implies that a large proportion of the fan base don’t engage with the sport online and are much more likely to watch on TV or in person.
Which Horse Race is the Most Popular in the UK in 2021?
We conducted a keyword analysis using KWFinder to discover which races in the UK are being searched the most frequently and displayed below are our findings.
Number of average monthly searches for each of the largest horse races in the UK using KWFinder.
The Aintree Grand National is searched the most frequently with an average of 96,100 searches per month in the UK. However, this is the number of total annual searches averaged out across every month, as in April 2021 alone, there were 1 million searches for the event.
Following the Grand National, the Cheltenham Festival and the Royal Ascot claim 2nd and 3rd place respectively. The Cheltenham festival generates 55,600 average monthly searches in the UK with the Royal Ascot generating 36,300 average monthly UK searches.
Kempton Park, Haydock, Epsom Downs and Doncaster all amass a similar number of average monthly searches, ranging from 4,200 (Doncaster) to 7,300 (Kempton Park).
How Many People in the UK Participate in Horse Racing 2021?
We analysed the number of searches for the term “Horse Riding” as we believe that this indicates a specific intent to get involved with the sport of both horse racing and riding. We discovered that the term is searched 27,400 times per month in the UK on average. We have also identified where in the UK it is most popular in relation to population size. The top 5 cities are listed in the table below.
Area | Number of Searches | Number of searches per every 100,000 people |
Newcastle-Upon-Tyne | 190 | 71 |
Cambridge | 100 | 69 |
Stockport | 70 | 66 |
Rochdale | 70 | 65 |
Bournemouth | 120 | 64 |
The term is searched the most proportionally in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne where it generated 71 searches for every 100,000 people in the area. This was then followed by Cambridge, Stockport, Rochdale and Bournemouth.
The area which searched for the term the least was Sale, which searched for the term only 7.5 times per every 100,000 people each month.
Summary: Horse Racing Statistics UK 2021 Roundup
To conclude, horse racing remains a very popular spectator sport in the UK, with large viewership and searches for the sport online. However, the social presence is much lower in comparison to other sports such as Cricket and Football.
We hope this Horse Racing statistics article has helped you understand the popularity of the sport in the UK.
