Jim Mullen, Group Chief Executive Officer at The Jockey Club, has revealed that the organisation is set to receive “significant investment”.
It comes hot on the heels of Friday’s announcement of a £6million revamp of the Betfred Derby Festival.
However the moves could also lead some to come cost efficiencies including the closing of their London Office.
Speaking to Ed Chamberlin on ITV Racing he said: “There’s going to be significant investment, tens of millions coming into the Club and it's really about getting the Club efficient for spending that money.
“You don’t want to invest a pound when you can get £1.20 or £1.25 back. So, there’s an efficiency driving coming in and it may mean that in the future some people might decide to leave the organisation.
“But that’s not why we’re doing this. We’re doing it to get it fit for the millions that we are going to invest into the Jockey Club.
“Why do we need a London office when we have world class racing to put on? We have three excellent racecourses around London and when you go there to have meetings in London, you could be having those at the racecourses.
“I'm going to be working from Sandown and Epsom and the teams are going to come and work from there too.”
Inevitably the move has led to further speculation that the Jockey Club could sell a racecourse to help drive projects forward with Kempton the name so often in the frame.
However Mullen stressed there’s no change to the current position with that track.
“We have a number of sources of funds that I said I’ll come back probably in five or six months and talk about and we’re in final knockings with them,” he said.
“There are no plans here regarding selling our assets. The Kempton question you asked, that was a deal done in 2018 where there’s an option on Kempton Park, That was done in 2018. Whether that option materialises is a different question but at the moment nothing else has happened.”
So why make such a significant change to the prize-money for the Betfred Derby – up to £2million in 2026, in the current climate?
“The Derby has to match some of the other richest races we have in the UK and the reason it does is we believe it’s the best Flat race in the world. That’s what we think, and we have to justify that," he said. “In competitive sport you build around the actual event, and the Derby is what we’re building it around.
“It’s tough elsewhere. We’re starting at the top level with our investment in prize-money because that’s what delivers the best returns for us but at the Jockey Club we are committed to our full portfolio of racecourses and racing.
“There isn’t a prize-money conversation to have at the moment, but we are not shirking from our responsibility to make sure our racing is competitive for everyone and that includes prize-money.”
And Mullen believes the changes that are coming will ensure he delivers what he promised when first approached about the role.
“When Dido (Harding) asked me would you consider having a conversation and what would you do? I opened up and basically said I intended to leave the Jockey Club in a better place than I found it. It’s as simple as that,” he concluded.
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