French racing has drawn up a new map. France Galop’s board voted on Monday to stop thoroughbred racing at 24 regional venues from 2027, part of a major restructure driven by a sharp fall in betting revenue.
France Galop runs flat and jumps racing across 132 racecourses, the biggest network in Europe. The decision takes about 18 per cent of those venues out of thoroughbred racing in one hit.
None of the 24 tracks will close outright. All of them also host trotting, which is hugely popular in France, and they’ll keep those meetings. But galloping is gone from venues including Agen, Auch, Carcassonne, Cavaillon, Hyères, Montauban, Vitré and Les Sables-d’Olonne.
The rest of the regional network is being split by code.
📣 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲́ 𝗱𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲 : Un nouveau dispositif régional pour consolider durablement l’avenir des courses de Galop ⤵️
➕ de détails : https://t.co/K8ezTeHJqD https://t.co/SAMLIeqTro
— France Galop (@francegalop) October 19, 2026
Six tracks will go flat-only: Aix-les-Bains, La Teste, Toulouse, Cholet, Saint-Malo and Châteaubriant. Strasbourg and Vittel will follow over time. Five will host jumps racing only: Jarnac, Le Lion-d’Angers, Nancy, Nantes and Orléans.
France Galop says the aim is a racing map that’s “more readable, more attractive and sustainable”. It wants race programs to match the number of horses trained nearby, each code at the tracks best suited to it, and running costs cut.
The reform comes against a tough financial backdrop. France Galop’s 2026 budget, which wasn’t signed off until July, forecasts a deficit of about €45 million (roughly A$75 million). That follows a €60 million drop in revenue from the PMU, the national tote operator that funds French racing.
A task force has already found more than €30 million in savings this year. The board has said it wants the books balanced by 2029, and shrinking the regional calendar is a big part of that plan.
READ: TDN report on 2026 France Galop Budget
Not everything floated earlier made the final cut. Saint-Malo, flagged in task force discussions as a possible casualty, survives as a flat venue.
France Galop president Guillaume de Saint-Seine said the board had taken time to listen before voting. A first draft was presented in September, then reworked after consultation with regional federations, the trotting body and members of France’s parliament.
“Where a consensus existed, we kept it; where difficulties remained, we kept talking to build the right answers,” he said. He called the result a balanced reform that would make racing more attractive “while preserving the territorial network that is one of the strengths of French racing”.
There was a deadline to meet as well. The Ministry of Agriculture has to approve the 2027 racing calendar before 1 November.
French racing’s top end is untouched. Longchamp, Chantilly, Deauville and Auteuil, home of the Arc and France’s other big races, aren’t affected. But the regional circuit is where many of the horses come from that end up in the big races, including a few that find their way to Australia.
A smaller provincial network means fewer opportunities for French-trained horses to come through the ranks. That’s worth watching as French stables keep targeting our spring features.
