Exodus of British racing's leaders continues with Racecourse Media Group chief Martin Stevenson latest to step down

Racecourse Media Group has become the latest major racing organisation to launch a hunt for new leadership after chief executive Martin Stevenson informed the board that he intends to step down once a suitable replacement can be found.

RMG joins the BHA, the Jockey Club and the Racehorse Owners Association as key stakeholders within the sport in Britain that will be under new leadership by the end of the year.

In addition, the BHA will also need to appoint a new chairman at the end of Joe Saumarez Smith's current term of office in May 2025 – the recruitment process for his successor began in May – while Dido Harding will officially take over from Sandy Dudgeon as the Jockey Club's senior steward during Newmarket's July meeting next week.

Following the departure of Richard FitzGerald in October 2020, Stevenson stepped up from chief financial officer to become acting chief executive at RMG and was confirmed on a permanent basis in March 2021.

Stevenson, who will turn 60 on July 5, said he wished to see a new chief executive in place ahead of future rights negotiations. RMG represents 37 British racecourses in a variety of broadcast deals, which include free-to-air television, bookmaker streaming and betting shop coverage.

Calling his time with RMG, which dates back to his appointment as chief financial officer in 2007, a huge honour, Stevenson said: "I have a significant birthday approaching, and I think now is the right time for me to relinquish the role and enable the business to put in place its leadership in plenty of time ahead of the next rights renewal cycle.

"The business has achieved a great deal in reclaiming control of our racecourses’ media and data rights and has created real substantial commercial success for the industry, having now delivered more than £1.2 billion to the industry.

“The industry undoubtedly has some challenges, but RMG is an excellent example of what can be achieved when the industry comes together in the right way with clear focus, commitment and good governance."

RMG chair Conor Grant described Stevenson as "a great ambassador for RMG who leaves the business in rude health", while Nevin Truesdale, who recently announced his own departure as chief executive at one of RMG's major shareholders the Jockey Club, hailed Stevenson's role in boosting the income flowing into the sport through betting and data rights.

Nevin Truesdale: will step down as CEO of the Jockey Club by the end of the yearCredit: Edward Whitaker

"The success of RMG in delivering significant incremental value to British racing and enabling the Jockey Club and other shareholder racecourses to invest record amounts into prize-money and other investments over the last 20 years has been in no small part due to what Martin has delivered," said Truesdale.

“He has played a key role in RMG’s undoubted success in increasing the value of British racing’s betting and data rights, and I would like to thank him, on behalf of all of us at the Jockey Club and the other RMG shareholders, for all that he has done."

The two men's career paths have tracked closely in recent years, with Truesdale, who had been the group finance director at the Jockey Club, being given the top job on an interim basis in August 2020 before his permanent appointment to the role the following year. Their two successors will inevitably work closely on a number of the major issues facing the sport.

Stevenson and Truesdale have given their respective boards a timeline of leaving by the end of the year, while the BHA's chief executive Julie Harrington announced last month that she would also depart in December after four years in the role.

Read these next:

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Nevin Truesdale to step down as chief executive of Jockey Club at the end of the year 

Was Julie Harrington a good leader of British racing? It's complicated 

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