From Flat to Jumps: Amelco on autumn volatility, managing risk and double-digit GGR on racing

Owen Machen, Horse Racing Team Manage at Amelco. With the Flat season wrapping up, Amelco’s Horse Racing Team Manager, Owen Machen, discusses managing autumn ground changes, handling ante-post liabilities on dominant yards and how proprietary automation drives festival growth. With the Flat season wrapping up, how did the trading desk fare across Ascot, Goodwood, York, and Doncaster? How did your pricing models hold up against sharp punters? The major Flat festivals are always a strong test of both pricing and trading discipline. Between Ascot, Goodwood, York, and Doncaster, we had a very solid summer – staying competitive on price while keeping tight control of our overall positions. Our models held up well against sharp action, but the real edge comes from combining technology with experienced traders. When informed money arrives, you have to identify it quickly, understand what is driving it – and adjust prices and liabilities accordingly. That balance of strong modelling, fast reaction times, and sound trading judgement kept us accurate in some very competitive markets. Being Britain and Ireland, autumn ground turns in an instant, causing a flood of late non-runners right before the off. How does the product recalculate prices and liabilities in seconds so operators don’t have to freeze or pull markets down? Autumn racing can change in seconds, particularly when deteriorating ground leads to a wave of late withdrawals. That kind of pressure is exactly what our technology is built to handle. The moment a horse is taken out, the system reforms the market and recalculates prices and liabilities almost immediately, applying Rule 4 deductions automatically where required. That means operators can keep markets live and customers can continue betting right up to the off, rather than waiting for manual intervention while the book is rebuilt. UK racing turnover is down around 19% across the board. Yet your platform drove an 82% turnover increase and a 114% GGR uplift at major festivals this year. What makes your product deliver numbers that others can’t match? Our success comes from combining specialist racing expertise with a relentless focus on the major festivals and the fixtures that matter most to customers. We provide continuous ante-post coverage and build compelling propositions around key meetings throughout the season. A major part of that is effective risk management. Our specialist racing traders are constantly monitoring the market, racing news, and changing circumstances, which allows us to manage exposure carefully without having to sacrifice the breadth of our product. We also work closely with our operator partners to give them the flexibility to tailor propositions to what their players actually want. Alongside that, responsible gambling is central to how we operate. Strong risk management and a responsible approach have to go hand in hand, ensuring products are delivered thoughtfully. Ultimately, it’s that mix of specialist knowledge, disciplined risk controls, customer focus and responsible product development that sets our performance apart. You’ve cut manual trading interventions by 70%. In plain English, what soldier work is the software taking off traders’ plates? How does that let them focus on managing actual risk? The software removes much of the repetitive, high-speed administrative work that traditionally ate up a trader’s day. Price changes, Rule 4 deductions, market reformations and liability monitoring are all handled automatically and at speed. That gives our traders the time and headspace to focus where experience genuinely matters: understanding customer behaviour, identifying informed business and deciding when a position needs active attention. Automated controls monitor exposure around the clock, while the trading team concentrates on the risks and commercial opportunities that require human judgement. With the first proper Jumps races already taking place with Chepstow and Listowel, how do you transition the season from Flat to Jumps – and how do your risk models handle all the extra in-play volatility? The move into jumps racing changes the risk profile considerably. Heavy ground, longer race distances, jumping errors, and rapidly changing running positions all create far greater volatility across markets. Our tools can be configured around the characteristics of each meeting, allowing us to monitor betting volumes, price movements and liabilities in real time. If betting activity increases sharply or a market moves outside expected parameters, we can adjust controls immediately without losing sight of the overall position. Chepstow was an excellent early test because conditions can be demanding and races can change very quickly at the track. The key is staying agile: keeping the product competitive while ensuring the trading team can respond decisively as the action unfolds. Willie Mullins dominated last season and will almost certainly do so again. Punters are already building ante-post multiples around the big Irish yards. How are you enabling operators to offer early ante-post and NRNB markets without taking on reckless liabilities? The ‘Mullins Multi’ has become part of the Cheltenham experience, and customers expect to be able to build those bets early. Our role is to make that possible without allowing one stable, horse, or combination to create an unacceptable concentration of risk. We provide comprehensive ante-post and Non-Runner No-Bet (NRNB) coverage, supported by active trading throughout the season. Our racing specialists closely follow entries, targets, form, stable updates, and market movements, continually reassessing prices and liabilities as the festival picture develops. Ante-post risk cannot be managed with a set-and-forget approach. By monitoring exposure from the opening show right through to March, we give operators the confidence to offer the markets customers want while keeping the book commercially sustainable. As autumn evenings draw in and UK twilight fixtures end, there will naturally be more interest in South Africa and US racing. You’ve mentioned previously that you can price and settle 25,000 live races a month from South Africa and the US. How can that be done without hiring an army of night-shift traders? The scale is made possible by automation. Our infrastructure can price and settle large volumes of South African and US racing without requiring a full team to process every market manually through the night. Once the relevant race data and results arrive, the system identifies outcomes, settles markets, and handles that high-volume, repeatable work consistently. That increases settlement speed, supports scale, and reduces the risk of manual error. We still maintain an experienced night team providing 24-hour coverage, because certain situations will always require trading judgement. The technology deals with the volume; the team manages exceptions, customer queries, and anything that needs a human decision. The 2026 SBC Awards are just around the corner, and your racing product is shortlisted for Innovation of the Year. What can you tease about new features or upgrades landing over the coming months? In-running racing is one of the most exciting recent additions to our product, opening up a significant new area for our customers. It adds greater depth to the racing proposition and creates more opportunities for engagement throughout the race, not just before the off. We are also continuing to improve automation, coverage and the flexibility of our trading tools. A major strength of the platform is that it delivers a reliable mainstream product at scale while still supporting bespoke development for operators with specific ideas or requirements. There is plenty more to come over the coming months as we continue to build on the product and respond directly to what our customers want, with in-running racing being a clear example of that direction.