Goodwood and York have issued a proposal for how British racing should be governed moving forward.
The two large independent racecourses are suggesting the current British Horseracing Authority commercial committee is scrapped and replaced by three strategic panels who will have specific areas of focus: Elite flat racing, everyday flat racing, and jump racing.
An independent BHA board would then make the final decisions.
Their proposals come a few months after Ascot announced it would leave the Racecourse Association (RCA) at the end of the year. The RCA is currently undergoing a review, a report of which is expected later this month.
Explaining the timing of the open letter being sent, York chief executive William Derby told Monday’s Nick Luck Daily Podcast: “I think we’ve seen a number of stumbling blocks over the last year few years about governance and architecture of the sport and it’s really important for the sport to structure itself correctly to allow it to flourish and to grow as we go through the next decade.
“I think with the governance review ongoing at the RCA and many questions being asked about how we govern our sport, Adam (Waterworth) and I, James Crespi at Goodwood and Chris Ward here at York felt the time was right to put our full penneth in with a framework in which we’ve been working really hard on to contribute to the debate.
“We’re hoping all stakeholders across the racecourses, practitioners, horsemen, all interested parties, people who have skin in the game in the sport, will contribute to the debate and help frame the framework that we’ve articulated and improve it and take it forward. Brighter minds than ours will hopefully bring it to fruition.”
Goodwood Estate Chief Executive Adam Waterworth said the future shape of the RCA was not the main focus of their thinking.
“To be honest, it was less about the RCA for us a starting point. A lot of the debate had been about the RCA but we were of the opinion that it was almost more of a symptom rather than a root cause," he said.
“The root cause for us was business models are so different now, be that between racecourses, between horsemen, and trying to get one position for the sport, or one strategic answer for all levels of the sport that’s going to cover all aspects, just seemed an impossible task.
“We’ve been asking various groups to come up with that impossible task almost on a weekly basis and that didn’t seem sustainable. For me, the RCA issues were just part of that same issue. It’s very difficult for the RCA to come up with a position around, say, fixtures and funding that is going to suit all of the business models it tries to represent. So, let’s stop trying.
“And we said the same around the BHA table and those BHA committees. Let’s come up with these three panels which can focus on what we see as being the three key areas of the sport and I think we have half a chance then of coming up with an agreement."
Will smaller racecourses back the plan?
Derby insists the smaller courses will not be disadvantaged by the proposals.
“I don’t think that’s the case at all. It’s about giving a strategy for each of those three stands of the sport to allow them to articulate that strategy, and everyone would have a say in that, and giving real authority, legitimacy to those panels to take their branch of the sport forward.
“We envisage the panels having representatives of the racecourses involved in staging those races, the horsemen involved in it and what we are calling BHA-appointed experts. Whether that be broadcasters, betting organisations, punters’ representatives etc, all framing that strategy, articulating it, defining it and being accountable and responsible for taking it forward.
“We see that very much as a positive that all strands of the sport can buy into and I think once you get the right people round the table with he passion for that element of the sport with the customer in mind, then I think that allows each strand to flourish."
Waterworth insisted a new independent BHA board would be empowered by the changes.
“The way we see it is the BHA board genuinely becomes the arbiter of those three panels. The strategy will come from those three panels but it’s the same with how most boards would work. The board isn’t necessarily tasked with doing all the work, the board is tasked with receiving the suggestions from their executive teams, in this case those panels.
“And I think there will be moments, hopefully not that many, but moments where those strategies are mutually exclusive in which case they will be the final arbiter. There will be certain areas where we need a decision, and we think it’s in the interest of the sport that we have a strong BHA board that we can all support and all stand behind.”
What should an independent BHA board look like?
Derby has a clear vision of what an independent BHA board should look like.
“The board we say are independent of representative interests. So, their whole focus is the long-term good of the sport. It’s not independent in the sense that they have no passion for the sport, no knowledge of the sport. So they might have sat on racecourse boards, they might have been a licensed personnel, they might bring a skillset from the rest of sport, from betting, so they’re experts in their field with a balanced skill match but they’re not representing a viewpoint from a trade body.
“We possibly envisage having one expert practitioner from the racecourse side or the horsemen side who can give that real-life insight into how those decisions affect things on the ground but they wouldn’t be representing an RCA board view or a Thoroughbred Group view. They’d be there as an independent expert on the board.
“And I think the chairman would be a modern chairman or chairperson who would be used to managing, registered interests and managing those conflicts that might arise, in the sense that most modern businesses have those conflicts managed, and work through them.
“We see that board as being a really strong governing body of the sport that really focuses on the long-term good of the sport and the customer at the end of it, whether that be a punter, whether that be an owner who are investing in the sport and really coordinating these three stands to allow each strand to prosper.”
And Waterworth is clear what the biggest challenge facing a new independent body would be.
“Firstly, we are such a diverse sport, so I think coming up with strategic answers that can speak to all areas of the sport is a challenge. I think that’s the main reason we haven’t come up with it already. With some good people at the BHA we haven’t been able to come up with a strategy because I think we’re giving them an impossible task.
“And the other one is to grasp the opportunity. There have been various attempts in the past to come up with a structure and a governance that we can have some faith in and we’ve talked a good talk about giving the BHA the power it needs to genuinely lead the sport.
“The right BHA chairman and the right BHA board, I’d like to think, would grasp that opportunity but it’s not going to be easy otherwise we’d have cracked this one in the past. We believe it’s completely in the best interests of everyone in the sport to have a strong, expert, BHA board deciding on the long-term future of this sport.
“This is our attempt at trying to get that through."
What are the current challenges racing faces?
And Derby has a clear view on one issue racing is facing right now.
"I think relevance is the biggest challenge for the sport. Whether that’s being relevant to people owning and breeding horses in Britain, people watching the sport, attending the sport, betting on the sport.
“If you haven’t got relevance then the sport just loses share to other leisure activities. We’ve got such a fantastic sport in so many ways, such a diverse sport from the communities and regions where we race to the fantastic sport we saw at Sandown at the weekend, or Royal Ascot last month.
“Hopefully, at the Qatar Goodwood Festival and Sky Bet Ebor Festival coming up too. So we have a great sport but what we need to do is shape it and give it an architecture and structure that will allow those strategies and the governing body to grow it as we move forward."
More from Sporting Life
- Free bets
- Racecards
- Fast results
- Full results and free video replays
- Horse racing news
- Horse racing tips
- Horse racing features
- Download our free iOS and Android app
- Football and other sports tips
- Podcasts and video content
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.al
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.