BRITAIN'S racecourses are coming under increasing pressure to show they are taking the subject of antisocial behaviour seriously, after a spate of violent incidents between drunken crowd members exposed a potentially serious problem for the sport.

Antisocial behaviour has crept into racecourses in recent years – notably at summer Saturday fixtures – and reared its ugly head again earlier this month after a 50-man brawl broke out at Goodwood, which left four people hospitalised and has resulted in an investigation being opened by Sussex Police. Trouble continued at upmarket Ascot at the weekend were punches thrown with much of the incident subsequently captured on social media.

The British Horseracing Association has reminded racecourses of their responsibility around alcohol policies.

It said in a statement: "The behaviour of crowds at racecourses is an important issue.

"While the vast majority of our six million racegoers each year will enjoy a pleasant and enjoyable experience, incidents such as those at the weekend cast the sport in a poor light and will cause understandable concern to those who are considering a day at the races.

"Crowd control, security and alcohol policies are currently the responsibility of the racecourse and their representative body, the Racecourse Association (RCA).

"However, the BHA has a duty to take into account all relevant facts and matters when issuing licences. We have already stated that we will be carrying out a review of all our licensing procedures later this year, which includes participant and racecourse licences.

"It is our intention to ensure that crowd control and behaviour are considered as part of this review.

"We announced after the violence at Goodwood that we would add the issue of security to our areas to examine in our licensing review later this year.

"Whilst the incident at Ascot was quickly contained and smaller in scale, it shows the issues that courses face even with good planning and security precautions.

"We have been in contact with the RCA this weekend and we know that courses will take into account the incidents as they make their security plans ahead of each meeting.

"The BHA does have the power to exclude individuals from courses and will use it where it can."

Last week, Chester welcomed around 60,000 racegoers to their most high-profile three-day meeting of the summer, the May Festival and although racecourses bosses confirmed there were no major incidents, Chester Race Company Ltd chief executive Richard Thomas, issued a strong statement to any potential troublemakers tempted to visit the Roodee or Bangor on Dee racecourse in the coming months.

"We have a very strong, zero tolerance policy on any antisocial behaviour and if they behave badly in any way, they’re thrown out,” Thomas told The Guardian last week.

“We have a big security presence. We turn away people who are drunk at the bars. No one is saying there aren’t drunk people at racecourses; of course, there are but you’ve just got to be on top of it all the time.

“We have a control room manned by all the emergency services and my team. We have a secondary control room down by the parade ring, which I’m at most of the time. We’ve got 76 cameras manned by operators, so if something happens we deal with it immediately. It’s vital because crowd safety is our number one priority. If we don’t have a licence, we don’t race. We take it seriously.

“It (bad behaviour) happens in every bar in every town but you’ve got to be one step ahead of it, you’ve got to see it developing. The two people who operate the cameras, they’re trained to operate cameras in busy stadia where things happens, so they get to spot these things very quickly.

“We’ve spent a lot of time with football clubs in the north-west, learning and developing our team. A lot of our team work at Manchester United and other places, they’re used to these big crowds and how they work.”

Racecourse Association (RCA) chief executive Stephen Atkin acknowledged that drugs, as well as alcohol, were an issue at some meetings.

"There is very considerable training which the RCA helps run of racecourse staff about serving alcohol in bars and making drinking water freely available and advising people how to pace themselves," he told BBC Five Live.

"With the issue of drugs, there are regular checks on areas that may be prone to drug misuse. The RCA and our racecourse experience group are in regular touch with the police officers' association about how we can best tackle that. "

Charlie Croasdale, sports reporter and racing tipster for The Leader, attends race meetings on a regular basis and believes racing should be ‘ashamed’ of the recent outbreaks of violence.

“The abhorrent scenes at Goodwood and Ascot have no place on any racecourse,” he said.

“Previously there have been major problems with fights at Newbury and it does very much appear to be an issue which is rearing its ugly head at the southern tracks. The sport should be ashamed of itself.

“I regularly attend race meetings and can say I’ve never experienced any violence of note on course, but this is clearly an issue which is mainly revolving around big flat meetings in the English summer, where drinking is promoted as being a key part of the day out.

“Most of us enjoy a drink when we go to the races, but some of these videos circulating from the past two weekends show groups of men completely hammered during the afternoon, which is not only antisocial but clearly dangerous for any other racegoers unfortunate enough to be caught up in the firing line.

“Racing must act to prevent any further violence. Big tracks in the north which attract huge crowds – such as Aintree, Chester and York – take a firm stand on any antisocial behaviour and as a result, the atmosphere – in the main – is jovial and highly enjoyable. Racing should be an enjoyable experience for all and, crucially, make people want to return again.”