Industry heavyweights approach BHA with radical proposals to shake up sport

A group of "industry heavyweights" has approached the BHA with a series of proposals which it hopes will tackle the major problems facing British racing and will be taken up as part of the sport's forthcoming strategy review.

Former BHB chairman Peter Savill has been part of the group which has included representatives of racecourses, owners, breeders, racing professionals and betting operators and was one of the signatories to the letter sent to the governing body on Monday.

He told the Racing Post: "I have met with a number of industry heavyweights over the past months. We have put a letter together to the BHA with outline principles of what we think the BHA should bring forward into the upcoming strategy review."

Savill, speaking on a personal basis, said that in his view the main issues facing the sport were that its prize-money was not keeping pace with other major racing countries, a drain of equine talent abroad and low field sizes.

Concentrated mainly on the Flat at this stage, the proposals seek to improve field sizes at the top end of the sport, including by removing contests for the bracket of horses rated between 80 to 100 where there has been most downward pressure.

There would also be increased prize-money for British racing's higher-class races which would be concentrated on Saturdays, Sundays and the big midweek festivals and broadcast on ITV to encourage bigger field sizes and higher betting turnover.

However, a report that the proposals also included a reduction in fixture numbers was denied.

Peter Savill: former BHB chairman has been working on proposalsCredit: Edward Whitaker

Savill, who was chairman of the BHA's predecessor the BHB from 1998 to 2004, said: "People say we need fewer fixtures, we need fewer racecourses. We don't, we just need to make sure we get our field sizes right and we have our better field sizes at the top end because that is where people bet more. That will generate more betting turnover.

"We'll solve some of the prize-money issues by getting the field sizes right and benefiting from the greater betting turnover which is obviously being affected now by small field sizes."

Savill said he thought there should be a "levelling up" in field sizes so, while there would be fewer races for higher-rated handicappers, there would be an increase in lower-grade handicaps where there has been less pressure on field sizes to give those operating at that level more opportunities to win races and prize-money.

"It shows that all you need to do is adjust the number of races in each race class and you don't need to cut out fixtures," he added. "You can do it just by levelling out to reach those ideal numbers of field sizes in each class of race.

"The question then is, how has this come about? The problem is that there isn't enough centralised management and agreement of how many races we need in each race class and that's one of the things that we need to get everyone to agree.

"How we reach that is up to the BHA to discuss with their shareholders and investors."

Savill said that trainer John Gosden had been right in saying that British racing was in danger of becoming a nursery for other major racing nations, adding that prize-money had to be increased at the top end to prevent the drain in equine talent such as the sale of Britannia Stakes winner Thesis to Hong Kong.

John Gosden: has warned British racing is in danger of becoming a nursery for other jurisdictionsCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

Exports of horses rated more than 90 had almost doubled in recent years, with the Middle East, Australia and France increasingly their destination.

Savill drew an analogy with Premier League football, saying: "If all the top players started to drift off to other countries, ultimately it would leave the whole foundations of the Premier League suffering because the television rights would become less valuable and so on. That's the sort of situation that we face."

He said action should be taken to improve the returns to owners of horses rated above 80, assets worth £200,000 and more if sold to buyers from abroad, or else "we are just going to continue to lose all these horses and it will get worse and worse and once the top end goes then everything else will crumble with it".

Savill also argued that if better horses were retained British racing needed to organise and market those levels of the sport better.

"I am of the view that we need to identify our top product better than we do," he said. "Everybody says we have the best racing in the world but unless we deal with these problems we are not going to have it for very much longer.

"So while we still do have it, and we clearly do in terms of the quality of the horse we produce, then we need to take advantage of that situation in the same way that football created the Premier League and turned it into the best brand in the world."

'I don't see it as elitist in any shape or form'

Savill rejected suggestions that the proposals were elitist and were an attempt to create British racing's version of the abandoned European Super League in football.

He said: "I don't see that as elitist in any shape or form or anything similar to the European Super League because this would all be done within the confines of the rules of British racing under the aegis of the BHA.

"It is not a matter of the super rich getting richer because first of all there are a lot of people who own racehorses who are not super rich who are at the top level. And secondly you generally as an owner don't get any richer by owning a racehorse.

"So I don't see this as an elitist thing, I see this as something that the industry needs to do to identify what its top product is."

Savill said he saw opportunities for the sport through expanded coverage on terrestrial television, the development of the World Pool concept and levy reform.

"There's a lot of doom and gloom out there but I am optimistic if we can change these things and get the structure right," he added.

The major racecourse groups are understood to have been involved in the group discussing the proposals but neither the Jockey Club nor Arena Racing Company wished to comment when approached by the Racing Post.

Savill said the BHA had been kept informed of the discussions all along, with British racing’s leaders having agreed to deliver an industry strategy later this year.

A BHA spokesperson said: "It is clear that action needs to be taken, and in order to grow, the sport will need to innovate.

"For these reasons we welcome any proposals from those who have the interests of the sport at heart, and they would be considered as part of the development of that industry strategy, which will take place as a matter of urgency over the coming months in collaboration and consultation with our industry’s stakeholders."

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