Racing’s leaders signed a “historic” agreement on Thursday which, it is hoped, will remove much of the pain and delay from the sport’s politics. The document formalises a power structure within racing which will govern how the British Horseracing Authority interacts with horsemen and racecourses in attempting to reach decisions, and there was an impressive display of unity from the representatives of racing’s various interested parties as the signing took place.
Steve Harman, the BHA’s chairman since 2013, said he saw no truth in familiar suggestions that racing is a fragmented sport. “When I began in this role there were some who felt racing was factional but I didn’t find lots of little fiefdoms. What I saw in most of racing’s leaders was humility, a common sense of purpose and a desire to get stuff done. This, today, is an example of that.”
The new agreement should significantly speed up the internal negotiations which take up so much of racing’s time, according to Stephen Atkin, the longstanding chief executive of the Racecourse Association and a witness to many internecine conflicts within the sport. “In the past, we have always spent half our time talking about process before getting on to the issues,” he said.
“The powers of the BHA are not changed by this, they are clarified. The rights of racecourses and horsemen are not changed, they are clarified. This will help move the discussion forward.” Atkin conceded there would still be disagreements but foresees fewer of them.
Rachel Hood, president of the owners’ association, said the Horsemen’s Group was “extremely pleased” with the agreement. “We believe the greater good is to be found by operating collaboratively,” she added.
The deal was described as “an essential precondition” of the sport being awarded a ‘racing right’ by government to replace the existing levy-based method of receiving funds from bookmakers. “You can’t expect government to legislate to give something like that to a sport with no formalised structure,” said Philip Freedman, chair of the Horsemen’s Group.
“This agreement doesn’t mean that the problems that have beset the industry for decades will be reversed,” he added, citing low prize money, low wages for stable staff and low income for many trainers and jockeys. “But it is an essential first step on the road ahead.”
Racecourses are the constituent group that took longest to commit to the new agreement and it is understood that the appointment of Martin Cruddace as chief executive of the ARC group of tracks last summer helped to move things forward. Impressively, only one track voted against the agreement when it was put to the Racecourse Association’s AGM recently.
The dissenting track was Plumpton, whose chairman and part-owner is Peter Savill, formerly the chairman of the British Horseracing Board for a six-year period more than a decade ago. Savill’s concern, shared by some others in racing, is understood to be that power has been leaking away from the central body for years and that the new agreement introduces more red tape and further inhibits the BHA’s ability to make difficult decisions for the good of the whole sport.
Those fears are not shared by Nick Rust, who took over as the BHA’s chief executive at the turn of the year and said that the deal had been one of three things he had been determined to achieve in 2015. “It will allow us all to work much closer together, without the stuff that used to get in the way,” he said.
