Charlie Parker: New regime brings fresh opportunities for our sport

As widely expected, Labour secured a wide-margin majority at the General Election, resulting in some significant changes to the MPs who represent constituencies that have training yards or racecourses within them. Racing will now have to build relationships with the government itself, with a new minister at DCMS and a new Secretary of State, but also at a local level.

Lambourn is now represented by Liberal Democrat Lee Dillon, who has been elected to parliament for the first time. This represents both a challenge and an opportunity. As previously stated, there are many historical links between racing and betting and the Labour Party, and we must ensure we engage and present our case around the crucial areas of levy reform and affordability checks. It was most encouraging to see Lady Starmer at Sandown Park on Eclipse day, just 24 hours after the election result was announced, showing the appeal of a day at the races just cannot be beaten.

It is also crucial that the Gambling Commission continues to be held to account for the results of the various consultations that have taken place in preparation of the Conservative government’s white paper. Picking the bits that fit is not an option – any backtracking from the previously agreed position around monthly betting limits must be resisted.

Work continues on the new Racing Digital service, which will overhaul all of the IT systems that look after the racing product. The delivery has been delayed – has there ever been an IT project that was on time and on budget? – however one of the key outputs will be a simpler process around the costs of ownership. The ROA team has been working hard on getting to grips with the myriad charges that owners have to pay for, such as entries, colours, jockeys’ insurance and the funding of equine welfare charities.

Over the years, the number of charges has risen – along with the actual costs of ownership – to the point where it becomes increasingly hard to unravel. Jockeys work on a predominantly freelance basis and there is a deduction from each owner’s entry fee to fund the Professional Riders Insurance Scheme; there can be very few other examples of freelance tradespeople charging their clients for their own personal protection arrangements.

Whether the deductions are right or wrong is one thing, the fact that the non-charitable trust has been able to build up an extremely healthy, and not needed, reserve balance is something that has been challenged by the ROA. Discussions with the trustees is ongoing, but we are hopeful that we can reach a sensible compromise that will in the first instance see the charge to owners drop significantly. This is just one area where the ROA is pushing back against the underlying assumption that the owner will always pay.

Reflecting on Royal Ascot, it truly was a superb week of top-quality action in the most glorious setting. Wathnan Racing walked away with four winners from 28 runners in only their second year as major new players in the sport. Whilst we face some real difficulties as a sport, the fact that a new powerhouse is prepared to spend very large sums on British bloodstock to target our major races reaffirms the fact that we have an eminently investable global product, one that could and should be leveraged to the benefit of all the strands of the British racing industry. Work is ongoing around how best to attract fresh global investment and what the actual product could look like.

Alongside this work we must also look at all the consumer touch points, such as betting, racecourse attendances, media consumption and what platforms are being accessed, and crucially the owner experience and journey. The engagement with all of racing’s consumers, especially the rapidly changing media landscape, needs to be refreshed and exploited as a matter of urgency. With significant new inward investment and a thorough overhaul of the consumer-facing strategies to engage and retain new consumers, we would have the right ingredients for serious growth in our sport.

Finally, I would like to congratulate Louise Norman on being appointed the new CEO of the ROA. She has a good team around her and with the support of our enthusiastic and knowledgeable Board, I am sure she will prove a great success.