'We don't make any money' - trainers' boycott may have been averted but the restlessness and agitation isn't going away

This time last week, the Professional Racing Association (PRA) delivered an ultimatum stating that racecourses and media rights groups had to pay up or its members would boycott television interviews.

“The ball is firmly in their court,” a PRA statement said, the gauntlet thrown down and sabres rattled close to the noses of racecourses, Racecourse Media Group and Sky, from whom the PRA was seeking to elicit payments for trainers’ group media rights.

Those words rang hollow, though, as a day later the PRA backed down after mounting pressure and criticism at the timing and nature of the action. The decision, the PRA said, was made “in the best interests of the sport” with the National Trainers Federation (NTF) and the Thoroughbred Group opposed to direct action.