The past few years have been spent on complex development work to build the infrastructure and framework of the RD Hub. Our team has also already delivered a fixture planning tool, which for the past three years has been used to support the development of the fixture list, helping to significantly shorten and simplify this planning process.

This is a complex digital project, and it is no secret that it has been challenging. However, it became clear earlier this year that the approach was not practical due to the difficulties in integrating with the existing industry database, which has been in place for over 20 years.

Pressing ahead would have resulted in a sub-optimal product for service users. Therefore, we made the decision to pause the roll-out of the new RD Hub and make broader changes to the organisation to ensure we are ideally positioned to deliver, at speed.

We appreciate how frustrating the delays – and lack of engagement – have been and apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. But we believe that this strategy is in the best interests of the delivery of Hub, and more broadly to the racing industry, ultimately providing a better system for British racing and the people who will be reliant on it.

We have an agile team of in-house software, engineering, data, cybersecurity, and other specialists, supported by flexible contract workers to ensure we can adapt and refocus our efforts depending on the requirements of the project. Racing Digital is also stocked with racing fans, and some of our people were involved in the development of the existing Racing Admin system, meaning we are well versed in the options – and limitations – of that platform. Racing Digital is headed up by Rob Glenister, our Chief Operating Officer, who has worked on the Hub and within the industry for several years, and subsequently has a deep and acute understanding of the need for modernisation. 

You can find out more about our senior team by visiting the ‘Our Team’ page.

Once launched, the Hub will improve how people complete the racing-related administrative tasks that allow everyone to participate in our sport, simplifying management processes and making things easier for all users, as well as enabling the more intelligent and effective use of data. Crucially, it will do this on a technology platform that sets British Racing up for long-term success, ready to adopt and embrace future technological developments, and which supports the modernisation of the industry.

The Hub will aid all participants at a broad level by optimising and streamlining many of the currently time-consuming processes facing agents, trainers and owners, and all stakeholders, but also tackle some of the more acute challenges they face. These include, for example, the issue of a trainer entering a horse in a race for which it isn't qualified, so the trainer then has to pay a charge of £65 and put up with the horse's name being printed among the entries with "nq" next to it or pay £90 and have the entry expunged. As a recent Racing Post article suggested, ‘a better system would flag up the problem before the entry was completed’, and this is exactly what the Racing Digital Hub will do.

It is these types of small but incremental and impactful improvements – in combination with the more holistic tech-backed evolution of racing administration – where the Hub will have the biggest impact.  

In addition, and as we will reveal in the coming months, the Hub will allow all industry stakeholders to manage their activity more effectively and coherently, consolidating previously fragmented activities into one platform.

Improving the current system wasn’t an option, and all industry stakeholders recognise that a modern, innovative solution is required to upgrade administrative management more effectively, and to provide a technology platform that sets British Racing up for long-term success, ready to adopt and embrace future technological developments, and which supports the modernisation of the industry.

A fundamental pillar of the industry strategy is to identify modern ways to engage with our participants, reduce the cost of ownership, and embrace better technology in the sport, whilst also maximising the benefits that access to structured and clean data will have for racing, and all domestic and international media and betting partners. The Racing Digital Hub will mean the sport ultimately has a solid, recognised technology stack, enabling the industry to explore and embrace emergent technologies such as generative AI in the future.

Simply bolting on new functionality to the existing system would only have delayed the problems being faced and added to the financial challenges of replacing the platform in the future.

As well as progressing with our development activity and new timeline, a core focus for Racing Digital in 2026 is to more extensively engage with participants, customers and stakeholders across the industry. This has been done on a fragmented basis over the last year, but the aforementioned changes, combined with the creation of new roles within our team, give us a foundation to host regular sessions, demo the product, gain feedback and adapt our approach accordingly.

 We will provide a clear timeline for regular engagement with all key stakeholders in the coming months that will significantly boost the visibility of the organisation and the Hub, as a whole. We will also be producing regular updates on our website and adding new content to show everyone the progress that our team is making.

The Hub, once launched, will support the broader modernisation of racing and help to streamline previously fragmented processes around fixture bookings, entries and declarations, and essentially all of the existing administration-related challenges that take up time and resources away from trainers, jockeys, agents, secretaries, and everyone working in British racing.  It will also enable a far more effective use of data than ever before and bring the sport in line with other comparable markets. The Hub represents a major step change for racing and once implemented and widely adopted it will drastically upgrade the management of the entire sport.Item description

Racing Digital is a limited company established as a 50/50 joint venture between Weatherbys and the BHA. The company is led by COO Rob Glenister, and our board is formed of members from both our parent organisations and representatives from across the racing industry

The rules of racing are set and administered by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), and Racing Digital has no role in determining, interpreting or enforcing them. Our focus is solely on building the technology platform that supports the administration of British racing — making processes simpler, faster and more reliable for everyone who works within the sport.

The Racing Digital Hub is designed to implement and reflect the rules of racing as defined by the BHA — not to set them. Where you see a restriction, a flag, or a requirement within the system, this will almost always be a reflection of an existing rule rather than a decision made by Racing Digital.

If you believe a rule itself needs to change, that conversation sits with the BHA. What we can do is ensure that once any rule changes are confirmed, the platform reflects them accurately and efficiently.

If you have a question about a specific rule, an entry requirement, a penalty, or any other regulatory matter, the BHA is the right point of contact. You can find their contact details at bha.co.uk.

This is exactly the type of problem that the Racing Digital Hub is being built to solve. The current system does not prevent an entry being submitted for a race a horse isn't eligible for, which can result in an NQ notation appearing against the horse's name in the published entries, or a charge being incurred to have it removed. The Hub will flag eligibility issues at the point of entry, before they become a problem.

That said, the eligibility criteria themselves — the ratings bands, race conditions and qualification rules that determine which horses can run in which races — are set by the BHA and are not within Racing Digital's remit to change. If you feel a rule or rating is incorrect, the BHA is the right point of contact.

Handicap ratings are assessed and published by the BHA's handicapping team, and Racing Digital has no involvement in that process. If you wish to query or appeal a rating, you should contact the BHA directly.

What Racing Digital is focused on is ensuring that ratings information is integrated cleanly into the Hub, so that eligibility checks, weights and entry conditions are all reflected accurately and in real time — reducing the risk of errors downstream.

Yes — simplifying and streamlining entries and declarations is one of several core reasons why the Racing Digital Hub is being built. The aim is to reduce the administrative burden on trainers, agents and their staff, with a more intuitive interface, better guidance at each step, and smarter validation to catch potential issues before they cause problems.

The process for entries and declarations will, however, continue to be governed by the BHA's rules and deadlines. Racing Digital can make the process of completing those tasks significantly easier, but the underlying requirements — including timing windows, entry fees and declaration rules — sit with the BHA.

While the registration and licensing of owners, trainers, jockeys and other participants in British racing is handled by the BHA, The Racing Digital hub will optimise and streamline these processes digitally, with the aim to make the entire experience feel significantly more joined-up and straightforward than it does today.

Disputes, appeals and regulatory decisions — including those relating to race results, stewards' enquiries, licensing and disciplinary matters - are the exclusive responsibility of the BHA. Racing Digital is a technology company; we have no role in adjudicating disputes or enforcing the rules of racing.

Where the Hub can help is in ensuring that the administrative record - entries, declarations, communications and horse data - is accurate, well-organised and readily accessible, which we hope will support cleaner processes for everyone.