Fortune favours the brave on and off the track

The Cheltenham Festival again delivered some enthralling racing action and great stories to go with it. Perhaps the most remarkable was the winner of this year’s Champion Hurdle, Golden Ace. The seven-year-old was a candidate for the mares’ race given that the Champion Hurdle contained red hot favourite Constitution Hill, last year’s winner State Man and the Irish star Brighterdaysahead.

Golden Ace’s trainer, Jeremy Scott, was inclined to head for the potentially easier mares’ race, yet her owner, Ian Gosden, stayed true to his dream and made the big call – and as we now know, the 25-1 shot achieved the remarkable feat of winning the Champion Hurdle. Congratulations to all involved, especially Mr Gosden.

There have recently been attempts to sign up trainers to a scheme that would see them committing to cease running the horses they train at certain racecourses. Whilst the plan seems to have now been shelved, it had one major flaw. In most cases the trainer does not own the horse, the owner does and as such has the final say on where the horse runs. The story of Golden Ace’s remarkable achievement is not a direct example, but it is a timely reminder that the owner pays the bills and should call the tune.

The industry governance structure has participants in one corner and racecourses in the other. There has always been an inherent imbalance in this grouping. Our bedfellows in the Thoroughbred Group – stable staff, jockeys, trainers and breeders – are mainly the groups who we employ, either directly or indirectly, yet when it comes to decision making, we sit as equals. The removal of the veto in November 2023 has made tensions easier to deal with, but they still exist.

The Thoroughbred Group has a common goal in the desire to agree a workable and fair commercial partnership with racecourses, but in many other aspects our ambitions and goals are not aligned. This year must see real progress regarding the commercial partnership approach, or a different avenue will be needed to secure a lasting and meaningful distribution mechanism for the revenues that flow into the sport.

It is now clear that the only route to levy reform is through some form of voluntary agreement with the bookmakers, however, with no levers to pull, it is not looking good. We need an industry strategy that can tackle the levy as well as affordability and anti money laundering checks and deliver meaningful change.

Cheltenham betting turnover was slightly up on last year and with the increased margins and how the results panned out, the bookies will have made significant profits from the week. Whilst the results helped, the average price of the favourites across the 28 races was 5-2 compared to the average price of the winners at 12-1. That familiar cry of racing not being a key component of bookmakers’ offering is less believable than ever.

The industry really needs to get on the front foot as black market betting is increasing, while there is no logic to the ongoing affordability and anti-money laundering checks promoted by the Gambling Commission. Despite all this, racing is providing a highly profitable business for the betting industry.

A huge amount of work has been completed on the next version of the Premier racing concept and we are closing in on decision time. In my view there is a huge opportunity that the industry needs to exploit. Not only could we uncover a game-changing new income stream, but we could also be looking at turbo-charging existing revenue streams whilst at the same time releasing funds for core racing and, crucially, National Hunt.

Drilling down into the data pack provided by the BHA, there is no doubt that the one area of our sport that is under the most pressure is jump racing. The number of horses in training, number of races, field sizes and prize-money are all lagging. Funding released from developments elsewhere will enable investment in this area which can begin to turn the ship around.

Finally, in 2022 the BHA announced a streamlined fee structure for owners. The new structure was linked to the establishment of Racing Digital, which is well behind the original target launch date. If the new platform for owners is to be delayed further, then the new BHA fees as agreed in 2022 must be released to ensure that owners requests are answered and whilst we await the new tech capabilities, the most important audience of owners will receive a streamlined charging approach that is long overdue.